


Her Father's Hair

by InimitableTimeDragon (kairos_system), julesyslushlife (kairos_system)



Series: Her Father's Hair [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Ableism, Abusive Lucius Malfoy, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Autistic Draco Malfoy, Awkward Kissing, BDSM, Biracial Harry Potter, Biracial main character, Bisexual Character, Bisexual Female Character, Bisexual Harry Potter, Bisexual Hermione Granger, Bisexuality, Book 1: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Canon Autistic Character, Canon Bisexual Character, Child Abuse, Codependency, Dark Harry Potter, Dissociation, Evil Dumbledore, F/F, F/M, Female Harry, Female Harry Potter, Flirting, Gen, Girls Kissing, Grooming, Gryffindor Common Room, Hogwarts First Year, Implied Childhood Sexual Abuse, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Grooming, Implied/Referenced Sexual Harassment, Indian Character, Legilimency, Manipulative Dumbledore, Manipulative Relationship, Mirror of Erised, Not Canon Compliant - Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, POV Bisexual Character, Past Child Abuse, Past Sexual Abuse, Period-Typical Sexism, Platonic BDSM, Power Dynamics, Power Imbalance, Protective Percy, Rape Recovery, Rape/Non-con Elements, Retelling, Royalty, Sectumsempra, Sexual Assault, Slow Burn, Slow Burn Harry Potter/Hermione Granger, Slytherin Common Room, Slytherin Harry Potter, Teacher-Student Relationship, Tom Riddle | Voldemort Adopts Harry Potter, Tw: pedophilia, Underage Harry, Unhealthy Relationships, Wartime, Wizard Royalty, Wizarding Politics, Wizarding Royalty, Wizarding Wars, minor drarry, past child sexual abuse, will add tags as they apply
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-25
Updated: 2018-04-14
Packaged: 2018-11-04 16:55:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 41
Words: 55,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10995057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kairos_system/pseuds/InimitableTimeDragon, https://archiveofourown.org/users/kairos_system/pseuds/julesyslushlife
Summary: What if Harry Potter was a girl? What if she was named after her mother?Lily Dorea Potter is named after two great witches, but she doesn't know anything about them until her Hogwarts letter comes at age 11. The Girl Who Lived soon learns that certain things were being kept secret from her, but she doesn't know why. Confused, resentful of the headmaster who barely helped her along, and with various forces competing for her attention, what choices will she make? And will they be the right ones?





	1. A Letter

**Author's Note:**

> I was hesitant to write a Harry/Snape fic despite having the idea for this one, because i didn't want anyone thinking I was condoning the unhealthy dynamics in this. Disclaimer: I am not, Snape is a creep. If you care about that, then I hope I can deliver a good fic involving the implications of that relationship and fem!Harry recovering from it. If you don't care, then enjoy the creepy fic and occasional smutty stuff that happens in it. 
> 
> If you are one of those fic police people who say survivors shouldn't write toxic dynamics because coping mechanisms can't be public, this is probably not the fic for you, and I really don't care. My writing is good, and I'm going to share it, which I don't have to apologize for.

By the time she was eating her first breakfast at Hogwarts, Lily Dorea Potter had heard everything about how much she resembled her dead parents. “She looks just like her mother… but with her father’s hair.”

At eleven years old, scrawny but with a face that everyone agreed would grow up to make her beautiful, Lily was already expected to be many things. She did not think she would ever be a great witch, or as beautiful as everyone said her mother had been. She figured the “great witch” title would go to her first friend at Hogwarts, a Muggle-born girl named Hermione Granger, and privately thought Hermione was already beautiful, not despite her scraggly hair and crooked teeth but because of them. 

She actually tried to be a good student, shaking off her Potions teachers’ comment of “Lily Potter. The Girl Who Lived. How wonderful for you to grace us with your presence,” and taking notes anyway. She didn’t know what Snape’s problem was with her — she had done nothing to make him think she would be entitled or rude.

When he noticed her writing notes instead of watching him attentively (apparently that was enough he needed to decide she was a brat) he started firing questions at her that she couldn’t possibly know the answer to. At the final one, she finally got her confidence up.

“Sir, I was taking notes,” she muttered, blushing and pushing up her notebook so he could see she was writing. 

“Oh.” At that, Snape was appropriately embarrassed. “Well then, Potter, I assume you will look up the answers tonight — as will all of you. Let’s see if you first years have the basic skills necessary to find answers in a textbook,” Professor Snape said, returning to the board and flicking the answers up that the students would find. 

Lily saw the boy from Slytherin who had commented that she shouldn’t consort with Muggleborns unless she wanted people thinking she loved Muggles herself glaring at her. Well, it wasn’t  _ her  _ fault Snape had assigned homework to the class, and it was a perfectly reasonable first assignment for that matter. 

“What’s with the Potions teacher just assuming I’m going to be a brat?” Lily asked Hermione as they filed out of the classroom in the dungeons. 

“Oh, I don’t know,” Hermione sighed. “I think some people just think you’re going to act all rude because you’re pretty much the most famous witch in Great Britain at this point.”

“Yeah, well if I ever had any of that attitude, Dumbledore made sure the Dursleys beat it out of me,” Lily muttered under her breath, causing Hermione to turn to her and ask “what?”

“Nothing…” She sighed. She didn’t want to talk about something extreme to Hermione so soon, and besides, it was a little embarrassing the sheer amount of abuse she’d experienced at the hands of the Dursleys.

* * *

The other teachers were definitely nicer than the Potions Master, even if one of them was a ghost who practically made Lily fall asleep within the first ten minutes of his class by droning on and on about the syllabus.

It became clear how exceptional Lily’s experience at Hogwarts would be, for better or for worse, when at dinnertime an owl came swooping down to the Gryffindor table and perched itself briefly on Lily’s shoulder before dropping a letter into her hands. 

“Blimey, mail at dinner time? Don’t get that often, ‘specially not first years,” Ron Weasley observed in between bites of his drumstick.

Lily turned the letter over in her hands. _ Miss Lily Dorea Potter, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.  _ She took a moment to admire the fact that she was a witch now before tearing into the letter, hoping it wasn’t too private.

She unfurled the letter, which was written in neat penmanship and signed at the bottom by Remus J. Lupin — someone Lily didn’t know. 

_ Dear Miss Potter, _

_ Allow myself to introduce myself. My name is Remus Lupin, and I was one of your father’s best friends while attending Hogwarts, and afterward. I am also related to you by marriage, being the husband of one of your distant cousins from the Black family — Nymphadora Tonks.  _

_ The reason for my letter is that I believed certain circumstances were in play, and now they have changed. This morning, Headmaster Albus Dumbledore informed me he would not be taking personal control over your education, as he had initially planned, and you would be studying with the other children your age. I personally think this is a reasonable choice — you should have been showed your world before age 11 — although I do have some reservations about one of your teachers, hence my owl. _

_ His name is Severus Snape, and he is the Potions Master. To most students, he is an obnoxious, slimy git — although if you say that, he’ll be sure to give you a week of detentions. To you, however, and to me as a friend of your late mother and father, he is something different. He was friends with your mother when she was young, and when she got older he joined a gang of students who would eventually follow Voldemort, and began to hold prejudiced ideals about Muggle-born witches and wizards. Despite this, he was still possessive of Lily, and obsessed with her surviving the war and ending up with him. I’m sure you have already been told by many people that you are like your mother with your father’s hair, and I would encourage you to be wary of him. Many people, including Dumbledore, believe he has changed since his Hogwarts days, but I do not.  _

_ If you have any questions about anything in this letter, or really anything about the wizarding world, feel free to Owl me or my wife. We would be more than happy to help you out, as it seems you have been placed into this world with barely any information and abandoned by the person who claimed he would help you. _

_ ~ Remus J. Lupin _

* * *

 Lily put the letter down and stared at it. Well, that wasn’t odd at all. “I guess I know why Snape acted all weirdly towards me this morning, now,” she told Hermione, pointing to the section about the Potion Master’s obsession with her mother. 

“Well, that is certainly… a letter full of information,” Hermione answered, trying not to reveal her confusion at everything in the letter.

“Well, I think I need to talk to Dumbledore,” Lily said, sitting up and stuffing the letter in her robes. 

“I don’t think you should tell him about everything in the letter!” Hermione protested.

“I’m not an idiot, Hermione,” Lily said with a roll of her eyes. “I’m just confused… seems like he wants to keep me as isolated from knowledge of the Wizarding World as possible. And if I have distant cousins, why didn’t he place me with them?”


	2. Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lily confronts Dumbledore in his office, and learns the truth about her destiny.

Percy, who was one of the Gryffindor prefects, had suggested that Lily not go storming up to the headmaster’s office and demanding to speak with him, even if she  _ was  _ the Girl who Lived. So it happened that Percy kept pace with the (surprisingly fast walker of an) eleven-year old girl as he escorted her to the Headmaster’s Office.

“What are you talking to the Headmaster about, anyway?” Percy asked, looking at her in confusion.

“Personal stuff. I got a letter from one of my distant relatives and I’m confused,” Lily answered.

“I wonder if we’re distantly related…” Percy muttered as Lily walked up to the gargoyle. 

“You have to tell it a password. That’s why I didn’t think you should just barge up to his office,” Percy explained.

“Um,” Lily stood in front of the gargoyle. “Hi. I’m Lily Dorea Potter, you know, the Girl Who Lived, and I really need to talk to the headmaster?”

The gargoyles moved apart, and Lily saw Professor Snape coming down the stairs from the headmaster’s office. “That’s not the password, Miss Potter,” he said, but his expression wasn’t angry with her like it had been in the Potions Classroom that morning, and his hand was outstretched. “Although I wouldn’t have been surprised if it would work, as I’m sure our illustrious headmaster would like to see you. Come forward, the gargoyles are still moving so I can pull you through,” 

Lily shrugged, a little confused by Professor Snape’s change in attitude, took his hand so he could pull her through the magical barrier, and climbed the first step so she was level with him. 

Upon noticing that Percy was still looking at their joined hands, Snape dropped Lily’s, and Lily turned back to Percy to wave to him and thank him for escorting her to the office. She didn’t notice the look that passed between Professor Snape and Prefect Weasley, and didn’t understand the implications of what Snape said next. 

“Mr. Weasley, you’re free to leave now. Miss Potter is in good hands with the Head of Slytherin and the headmaster of Hogwarts.”

“Of course, Professor,” Percy nodded, and walked down the corridor. 

“I’ll walk up to the headmaster’s office with you so he knows you didn’t break any rules coming here,” Professor Snape told Lily, and she nodded, accepting what he’d said. 

* * *

“Severus, back so soon?” Dumbledore asked, amused, before he saw the small figure

standing next to the Potions professor. “Ah. Miss Potter. It’s nice to meet you properly. Severus, you may go now.”

Severus nodded, and walked back down the staircase.

“What did you wish to say to me, Miss Potter?” Dumbledore asked when they were alone, indicating a comfortable chair that she could sit down on.

Lily took out the letter. “I got a letter at dinner tonight from Remus Lupin. One of my father’s best friends and a distant cousin of mine, apparently. It made me wonder why I wasn’t placed with any of my distant relatives. He also didn’t seem to have a high opinion of Professor Snape, so that was something I was worried about too. And it mentioned how you’d planned on tutoring me privately but changed your mind. Why?”

It seemed silly now to be bringing drama between two adults she barely knew to the headmaster of Hogwarts, but well, she’d said it, and he was bound to ask to look at the letter so he would’ve seen it anyway.

Dumbledore sighed, running a hand through his grey hair. “Two of those are very important questions, Miss Potter. I can answer your question about your Potions Professor rather easily — your father and his friends did not like Severus very much during high school, and it appears that trend has continued. I trust Professor Snape, however, so there is no reason for you to be worried about him.”

Lily gulped. If “your parents and their friends hated him but they were wrong” was an easy answer, what kind of answers were the hard ones?

“So… why was I put with my aunt and uncle, and why did you decide that you didn’t want to tutor me personally?” Lily pressed, not sure whether she really wanted to know the answer or not.

“It relates to your scar, and why everyone is calling you the Girl who Lived. With that in mind, are you sure you wish to know?” the headmaster asked.

In a few years, Lily would not be sure whether she wished she had said no, or thought it had been the right choice to say yes all things considered. “Yes, I do,” she answered.

“Quite simply, there is a prophecy that ties the fate of you and Lord Voldemort together. In attacking you at Godric’s Hollow, he marked you as his equal and made it so that you were the only one who would be able to kill him. I initially wanted to tell you from the beginning… but I thought it would be the wrong choice to tell an eleven-year-old something like that, so I decided to not privately tutor you. But, well, the cat’s among the pixies now, and you’ve asked for an answer, so I supposed I should tell you.”

“Yeah and what does that have to do with me living at my aunt and uncle’s?” Lily said. She was beginning to shake.

“When your mother sacrificed herself for you, she accidentally cast a kind of magic that protected you until you came of age, as long as you called home a dwelling owned by someone she considered family,” Dumbledore answered.

“Yeah and there was no other magical person she considered family?” Lily was shaking harder now.  _ Anywhere  _ else would be better than with the Dursleys, and the headmaster had never ever considered that maybe a witch would consider other witches and wizards family more than her Muggle relatives? Lily Dorea certainly already considered Hermione to be more of a family member than her cousin Dudley.

“I do not know,” Dumbledore answered. 

“You’re terrible!” Lily burst out. “You didn’t even think about what would be the best for me! You just took the easiest way out!” As she yelled, clutching her wand in her other hand, wind gusted through the office, and terrified, she ran out and down the stairs and past the gargoyles.

“Lily! What happened?” Severus Snape stood up from a bench he was sitting on near the headmaster’s office, looking at her with concern in his eyes.


	3. Call Me Lily

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lily talks with Snape after meeting with Dumbledore, and sees some memories.

Lily burst out of the headmaster’s office, not sure where she was going but wanting to get as far away from Albus Dumbledore as she could. It wasn’t that she was escaping her destiny — okay, she sort of was — but she was escaping someone who seemed like a terrible idea of a person to help her with the whole “killing the greatest Dark Wizard of all time” thing.

She barely noticed her Potions professor until he stood up as she ran by crying, calling out to her to know what had happened. 

Did he know about her destiny? Did pretty much everyone know, but Dumbledore had been the first one to actually tell her? Sighing, she sat down next to him.

“It looks like you might have just done accidental magic,” he stated.

“I set off a bunch of wind in Dumbledore’s office. Pretty sure I destroyed some things,” she said with a sigh. “How did you know?”

“There’s a certain look people tend to have when they’ve just accidentally done magic, especially first years. It can be scary,” he said. He avoided her eyes as he said the second part of his response to her. “Listen, I’m sorry I treated you the way I did at the beginning of the Potions class. You’ve got a lot on your plate, and you’re not… him.”

“My dad?” Lily asked. 

“How did you know?” he asked, lifting his head up.

Wordlessly, Lily took the letter from Remus Lupin and shoved it towards Snape. She could get why Lupin wouldn’t exactly like her Potions teacher, but he was being fine so far and even if the headmaster was kind of a jerk, he probably wasn’t bad enough to choose a teacher who was as bad as Lupin was insinuating. 

Snape’s mouth was a firm line as he read the letter, betraying no emotion. After reading the letter, he handed it back to Lily and took a breath. “Miss Potter, would you like to see some of the memories I retain from that time period? It seems only fitting that you would get to form your own opinion about me.”

“See… your memories?” Lily asked, confused. 

“There is a magical device called a Pensieve that stores memories. I have moved on from the events of my school days and placed the most painful ones in there. It’s in my office,” he answered her, standing up but still facing her as she spoke.

“Sure,” Lily answered. She almost found herself hoping he would take her hand again and pull her up, but he didn’t. Of course not — he’d only done that because he’d needed to pull her through the magical barrier, and especially after reading the letter, he wouldn’t want to seem inappropriate. Still, as he led her to his classroom, Lily found herself wishing for comfort from him. He was kind of cold, but he did seem to care about her, and she’d never exactly had an adult care about her properly before.

* * *

Lily looked around the Potions supply cabinet, marveling at the ingredients, as Snape drew his memories of Hogwarts and her parents to the surface of the Pensieve. 

“There are a lot of cool ingredients here,” Lily observed, noting how many there were with magical names. Unicorn blood seemed cool…

“Are there?” Snape asked, looking up at her. “Well, I suppose since you’re the Girl Who Lived, it would be reasonable to teach you more about Potions than an average first-year would learn if you were interested.”

Despite Snape’s initial abrasive attitude, Lily had found the Potions textbook interesting, so she found herself eagerly nodding. Potions was like the Muggle science classes she’d taken before going to Hogwarts, but cooler. Who  _ wouldn’t  _ want to make potions that could create love or stop death?

“Here, the memories are ready. I’ll go first to show you what you need to do — although, really, you just need to dip your face in the surface,”

Lily nodded, and Snape stepped forward, dipping his head into the Pensieve. He definitely didn’t seem to be breathing in water, so Lily was pretty sure it was safe, and dipped her face in the opposite end.

They appeared in one of Snape’s memories, which was of him showing Lily’s mother how to control her magic, and another one of them comforting each other about both not having good families. Lily looked over at Snape, whose face was much more unreadable than the younger version of him. He’d gone pretty fast from thinking of her as the arrogant Girl Who Lived to being willing to open up about his own bad treatmenet by his mother, Lily noticed with satisfaction. Even if she had torn up Dumbledore’s office in a fit of anger, and even if the Dursleys had hated her enough to lock her up in a cupboard as soon as she outgrew a crib, she was  _ not  _ hateable by all adults. 

The Pensieve cycled through more memories, showing Lily Evans and Snape growing further apart until finally Lily’s father tortured him (well, as much as a fifth-year could) to amuse his best friend. That was the breaking point — when Snape called Harry’s mother a  _ Mudblood. _

Lily saw Snape looking on as Lily Evans and James Potter were the golden couple of Hogwarts as Head Girl and Gryffindor Quidditch Captain, and then finally begging Lord Voldemort not to kill Lily Evans, and when that didn’t work, begging Dumbledore to save her, which resulted in him saying he would spy for the Light side.

Lily emerged from the Pensieve dazed, and with a lot of questions. “Why did my mother die then? And what does mudblood mean?” she asked, as soon as she’d regained her composure.

Snape sighed. “Dumbledore gave one of your father’s best friends the role of the Secret Keeper of the location of the Potters’ house, which meant that he could never give up that information except voluntarily. It’s powerful magic, and it would have worked — except that friend betrayed your parents. The magical world believes it was Sirius Black, who murdered thirteen people soon after your parents were killed.”

“As for Mudblood?” he continued. “It’s a horrible word, and one I never should’ve used for your mother. It’s a slur for Muggleborn witches and wizards that was taught to me by the Slytherins in my house, and used so often — even as the house password — that it seemed fine. It is one of my greatest regrets that I called your mother that… only lower than letting down her daughter.”

“Letting me down?” Lily asked, confused.

“I saw the way you looked at me when you saw the treatment of me by my parents, Miss Potter,” Snape answered her. “I posess a degree of a magical ability called Legilimency that enables me to see into others’ minds, sometimes unconsciously and especially when they are feeling something I am remembering feeling. My greatest regret, Miss Potter, is that I did not ensure Albus Dumbledore took better care of you, because I couldn’t bear looking at the face of the child of the person I loved most in life, who had been killed by someone I once was loyal to.”

“Oh,” Lily sucked her lips in, confused and still taking in everything. After thinking for a moment, she leaned forward to hug the professor. “It’s okay. And you can call me Lily,” she told him.


	4. Trademark Arrogance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mainly Gryffindor/Potions Class fluff tbh.

“You were out of the common room pretty late last night,” Hermione observed as she and Lily ate breakfast in the Great Hall the next morning.

“Yeah. Got a  _ boyfriend  _ in another house?” Ron Weasley teased, causing his older twin brothers to erupt in laughter and Percy to glare at them.

“It would be pretty stupid to have a boyfriend after the first day of classes, and how do you know it wouldn’t be a girlfriend?” Lily asked with a raised eyebrow. 

Ron blushed and stammered out an apology, and Hermione high-fived Lily. 

“If it really matters all that much, I was talking to Professor Dumbledore, and then to Professor Snape,” Lily answered them.

“Snape’s a git,” the two Weasley twins said in unison, making a face that resembled that of someone who had just tasted spoiled milk.

“Yeah, and didn’t… you know who… warn you about Snape?” Hermione whispered.

“If Lily’s getting warnings from You Know Who, she probably should talk to Dumbledore!” answered Ron, very much misconstruing what Hermione had said.

“That was  _ not  _ who we meant,” Hermione said, blushing profusely. Ron shrugged and returned to his pudding, which was apparently more interesting than the conversation. Lily found that slightly offensive, but then again, the Weasley boy was also kind of annoying, so there wasn’t a particular reason for her to want to talk to him.

* * *

“So… you might want to have a girlfriend?” Hermione asked a little nervously as she and Lily walked to Potions later that day. “Is that okay in the wizarding world?”

“I actually have no idea, but I also don’t care all that much about whether people think it’s okay or not,” Lily shrugged as they found their seats in the Potions classroom and sat down.

“My parents were okay with people being gay, but they were kind of ahead of their times…” Hermione muttered, taking out her quill and drawing absentmindedly on the piece of parchment.

“Well, I don’t care if the Wizarding community is behind the times. I’m the Girl Who Lived, and I’m going to date whoever I want. And if someone has a problem with that, they can bear in mind that I’m the one prophesied to kick Lord Voldemort’s ass,”

Lily didn’t realize how loudly she’d said that statement until there was a gasp from Ron Weasley, a glare from Draco, and a much lower chuckle from the back of the room. 

“So the Girl Who Lived shows that trademark Potter arrogance after all. Can’t say I really disagree with you, Miss Potter, but you should decide what kind of reputation you want to put forward and work on it,” Professor Snape said, walking to the front of the classroom and positioning himself behind his desk with a swish of his cape. 

“ _ I  _ think she should associate with better company if she’s going to be arrogant,” Draco Malfoy muttered.

“Mr. Malfoy, I do not recall inviting commentary from the class on what I said, which means you are speaking out of turn. Additionally, it is  _ painfully  _ evident how romantically obsessed with Miss Potter you are, and I would suggest being more pleasant to her if you wish to gain any of her favor, even platonically,” Snape answered, and then turned to the blackboard. “You should have looked up several ingredients in your textbooks last night and found their purpose. I will not be grading your homework — instead, we will see if you can apply that knowledge. You are to brew a Forgetfulness Potion using the recipe in  _ Magical Drafts and Potions,  _ and when you are finished tell me either why your potion will or will not work.”

With that, he picked up a piece of parchment from a stack on his desk and started making notes on it, clearly uninterested in answering any questions the students might have. 

Lily had looked up Lethe River Water, Valerian and mistletoe berries in her textbook the night before, so she knew reasonably well what to do for her potion, as did Hermione. Ron just looked confused, staring blankly at the textbook in front of him.

“Didn’t you do the homework?” Hermione asked him.

“I didn’t!” Ron admitted. “I thought he just assigned it because he was pissed off at Lily and it wouldn’t actually have any use in class today. That’s what Fred and George told me, at least. They thought I could blow it off.”

Hermione scoffed. “I’m going to report them to Percy! Telling a first year to skive off his homework… what kind of an older student? Honestly, what kind of an older  _ brother? _ ” She sighed. “I’ll help you look up the ingredients, Ron. You don’t have to fail class today just because your older brothers were jerks.”

Ron opened his mouth briefly, probably tempted to talk about how his older brothers weren’t jerks, but then thought the better of it based on Hermione’s glare and closed his mouth.

Draco, Lily noted with satisfaction, appeared to be having trouble with his potion. He’d probably misread the directions or put the wrong ingredient in, because it was turning out rather green and lumpy. Nobody else’s looked like that. 

“Did somebody cast a Thickening Charm on Malfoy’s potion, or did that idiot do it himself because it wasn’t looking right?” Dean Thomas, another one of the boys in Lily’s house, asked in amusement.

“Probably put it on himself,” said Ron, who was finding looking up the ingredients in the potion easier than he had anticipated and was looking rather cheerful.

“Yeah, probably,” Lily mused, but the wand on top of Professor Snape’s stack of papers and his vaguely amused expression did not escape her notice.


	5. Neville's Remembrall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Draco Malfoy takes his anger out on someone else.

Thankfully, Draco Malfoy didn’t have much of an opportunity to bug Lily after Potions class, although it certainly looked like he wanted to be even ruder as they filed out of the dungeon. 

“I can’t believe  _ Severus Snape  _ is actually interested in protecting the Girl Who Lived from gits,” Ron Weasley mused as the Gryffindors headed to their next class.

“Yeah, well, he likes me,” Lily didn’t mention the part about how the Potions professor had told her that his greatest regret was leaving her alone with the Muggles. It was a little invasive that he had seen her memories of the Dursleys, but she dismissed her discomfort. It would have been  _ more  _ uncomfortable to explain to him what had happened with them. 

“Be careful that he doesn’t like you too much,” Hermione muttered.

Lily knew she was referring to the letter she’d gotten from the mysterious Remus Lupin. “It’s fine, Hermione,” she said, rolling her eyes. There was no reason for her to trust some random relative over the Potions professor who protected her from jerks and had clearly really cared about her mother.

* * *

Two days later, the first years walked out onto the Quidditch pitch with Madame Hooch, ready for their first flying lesson. Lily noticed with displeasure that the  _ Slytherins  _ were also attending. Well, it wasn’t like every single Slytherin was terrible — she liked Snape, after all — but a particular Slytherin by the name of Draco Malfoy  _ was. _

After all of the first years succeeded in getting their brooms to rise for them, Madame Hooch left, telling the group that they were not allowed to fly yet. As soon as she was far away enough from the group that she couldn’t hear them, Draco Malfoy walked over to Neville, another boy in Lily’s year, smirking at him.

“What?” Neville asked. It looked like he was trying to be confident, but it came out shaky.

“I’m just looking at your  _ stupid  _ Remembrall, Longbottom. It looks like it would be pretty if it crashed on the ground,” Malfoy smirked.

“Stop it, Malfoy!” Lily hissed, walking up to the two with her broom in her hand. It looked like he had found another person to tease, now that his Head of House seemed to have decided he wanted to personally protect Lily.

“Or what?” Malfoy taunted her, laughing.

“Or I’ll  _ make  _ you,” She took a step closer, glaring him down. Malfoy was a prat, and she wasn’t going to let him bully one of her housemates. Gryffindors were brave, after all, and she wanted to exemplify the best qualities of her house.

“What, by blasting me with your scar?” Malfoy laughed. The Slytherins behind him laughed, especially two boys Lily had heard the Weasley twins calling Crabbe and Goyle.

“By  _ flying _ !” Lily said, grasping her broom so tightly that her knuckles were white.

“Oh yeah?” Malfoy sneered, and mounted his broom, still holding Neville’s Remembrall. “Catch me, Girl Who Lived!”

“Lily, don’t!” Hermione cried out, but Lily was already mounting her broom, not caring about whether she would get in trouble or not. She flew after Malfoy, a little shaky at first but noticing with satisfaction that Draco Malfoy wasn’t perfect on a broom either, especially when he was showing off.

“Oh, good, you’re actually in the air. You know, my father was kind of worried that you’d be hopeless at  _ all  _ forms of magic. At least you’re just hopeless at Potions,” Malfoy taunted her.

Lily glared, angling her broom so it flew closer to Malfoy, almost knocking him off. “I’m not hopeless at Potions!”

“Then why are you  _ already  _ having extra lessons with Professor Snape? He never does those unless he thinks someone is  _ terrible. _ ” Malfoy rolled his eyes

“Because I’m  _ good  _ at Potions.” Lily hissed, coming to a sudden stop. Was that why Snape had volunteered to teach her extra things, though? Because she would be hopeless without it, and he didn’t want the daughter of the woman he’d loved embarrassing herself at Hogwarts?

Malfoy smirked, clearly glad he’d gotten to her. “Knew it,” he said. 

“Give me the Remembrall back! This is not about Neville!” Lily insisted “This is just because you hate me!”

“Yeah, but I also hate the kids of blood-traitors,” Malfoy mused, tossing the Remembrall around in his hand. “Hey, Potter, if you care so much about this gag gift… catch!”

Malfoy smirked and lobbed the Remembrall high in the air. Lily didn’t even notice that he’d thrown it right near what looked like an office as she flew after it, streaking through the air. It didn’t really matter, but it was  _ symbolic.  _ If she didn’t manage to protect someone from her house, she wasn’t good enough. She definitely wouldn’t be able to fight the greatest Dark Wizard of all time.

She rushed towards the globe, hand outstretched, and miraculously managed to close her fingers around it. She held it to her chest, face glowing, and descended down to the ground to hand it to Neville.

“You catching that was a fluke! Just like you were, Potter!” Malfoy yelled as he stomped back on the ground, running towards Lily and Neville.

“What?” Lily looked at Malfoy in confusion, blinking.

“Don’t listen to him, Lily,” Hermione pleaded, putting a hand on Lily’s arm.

“My father told me you were an  _ accident. _ The Girl Who Lived’s own parents didn’t even want her!” Malfoy hissed, getting right up in Lily’s face.

“Yeah, well I’m still more important than you!” Lily retorted, but her face was growing red.

“He’s just trying to get you upset,” Hermione grabbed Lily’s arm, pulling her back to the line of students standing with their brooms. But not soon enough.

“ _ Potter!”  _ Madame Hooch yelled, rushing towards Lily with a redder face than Lily’s.


	6. Wood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermaths of Lily catching Neville's Remembrall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lily displays some of Harry's tendency towards moodiness in this chapter...

Lily sat on a bench outside of the classroom McGonagall had entered in search of “Wood”. She hoped that whatever punishment she was going to get, it would be fast. She couldn’t exactly expect  _ painless,  _ but hopefully wizard teachers were nicer than the Dursleys? She would be pretty shocked if they weren’t.

To her surprise, when Professor McGonagall returned, it was not with an object, but a  _ person.  _ “Mr. Wood, meet Miss Potter,” she introduced them.

Lily looked between her professor and the older boy, confused.

“Oliver Wood is the Gryffindor Quidditch captain. Your catch of Longbottom’s Remembrall was impressive, so I went in search of him to tell him I think you would make a good Seeker for the Gryffindor Quidditch team,” Professor McGonagall explained, only succeeding in making Lily more confused.

“What’s Quidditch? What’s a Seeker?” she asked.

Oliver Wood laughed. “Quidditch is a Wizarding sport involving flying and several different balls, and one of them is the Snitch. It’s smaller than a Remembrall, and flies. It’s the Seeker’s job to catch it. Professor McGonagall says you were very determined to catch Longbottom’s Remembrall today, and I was wondering if you would like to try out for the Gryffindor Quidditch Team.”

Professor McGonagall gave Oliver Wood a piercing glare. “What? I can’t just  _ offer  _ her…” McGonagall nodded, and Oliver Wood turned back to Lily, revising his offer. “I was wondering if you would like to  _ join  _ the Gryffindor Quidditch Team as seeker. There wasn’t anyone as good as you at tryouts last year, and I highly doubt there’s anyone else in your year as good as you.”

Professor McGonagall nodded, satisfied, and Lily gulped. “That would be great,” she told him. It really would — she’d never been able to play on any sports teams while growing up with the Dursleys. Dudley had been allowed to try out for everything, even after it became evident that he had no finesse at pretty much anything and couldn’t run much. Would Oliver Wood be expecting her to be as good at every match as she had been today, though? The determination he’d seen was her wanting to prove that she was worthy of the title of “Girl Who Lived”, not “Gryffindor Seeker”.

“Excellent,” Oliver Wood said with a smile. “We can look over our schedules in the common room tonight and figure out when you can get some practice in with me seperate from the rest of the team. And with that, I should probably be getting back to my Charms lesson,” He gave a nervous smile and then ducked back into the classroom.

Lily turned to Professor McGonagall. “Did you tell him to make me Seeker?” she asked incredulously.

Professor McGonagall just smiled. “I merely reminded him that he should not take your gender into account while deciding how good you would be at Quidditch. It can be a rough sport, but I think the Girl Who Lived can handle it. Now, Potter, I think it’s time for your Potions class soon…” She put a hand on Lily’s shoulder, steering her towards the dungeons.

***

Lily arrived early to Potions Classroom, beaming. The other first-years were still outside, putting away their brooms.

“Lily, you’re early. Is there anything in particular that is making you smile like that?” Professor Snape asked her, looking up from a book he was reading.

Lily bounded up to the desk, eager to tell him about her achievement and even more happy that he was casually referring to her with her first name like she’d given him permission to. “I’m going to be the Gryffindor Seeker!” she told him with a big smile. 

“Oh? And how did this happen?” he asked, smiling slightly and looking at her.

Lily launched into the story of what had happened with Malfoy and Neville, talking a mile a minute. “And THEN Professor McGonagall told me she’d reminded Oliver Wood not to consider my gender while thinking about whether I’d make a good Seeker!” She beamed. 

Professor Snape’s face turned down, and so did Lily’s, as she looked at him in confusion. “Did I do something wrong?”

“No, Lily, you didn’t do anything wrong. It was the member of my house who did something very wrong. It’s quite offensive to call Neville’s parents blood traitors considering the fate that befell them, and calling you an accident… that’s simply unacceptable.” He shook his head. 

“... Was I? An accident?” Lily asked nervously, hands clinging to the edge of the desk.

“Truth be told, I don’t know. I was less close with your mother towards the end of your life. I am sure that regardless of whether you were an accident, she loved you. But I do not encourage bullying, and I will be needing to speak to Malfoy.”

Lily nodded, and Snape changed the subject. “But! There’s no need for you to concern yourself with such worries… I will be disciplining Malfoy, and we have something to schedule, if you’re still interested in learning about potions not on the syllabus. Do you know what evenings you have free?”

“Um… all of them, I think,” Lily shrugged. “I’ve just been hanging out in the common room every evening so far, and there’s no particular time I can’t do that.”

Snape nodded. “The evening I have free is Monday. Perhaps we can have our first lesson five days from now at 5pm?” 

Lily nodded, and as she opened her mouth to ask something else, Gryffindors and Slytherins began spilling into the classroom. 

“Although if you have another question for me, as it appears you do, I am free for the majority of this evening,” Snape added, as Lily headed to her desk. 

Lily was suddenly much more scared of heading to his office than just asking him the question when he would have plenty of time to cool down during class. 

“Was Snape an arse?” Ron asked concernedly as Lily sat down.

“No. No, he wasn’t,” Lily buried her face in her hands, letting her dark hair cover the bits of her face that weren’t covered by her fingers.

“What happened with McGonagall?” Hermione asked, sitting down on Lily’s other side. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, okay? Nobody was horrible to me,” Lily snapped, muttering “ _ I’m just not worth their kindness”  _ under her breath.

“What was that?” Hermione asked.

“Nothing. God, Hermione, you don’t have to be so nosy,” She rolled her eyes.


	7. Heroes and Slytherins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lily approaches Snape with a request.

That evening in the Gryffindor common room, Oliver Wood looked over Lily’s timetable as Lily stared off into the distance, fidgeting. 

“Miss Potter, I’d almost think you have no interest in participating in Quidditch at all,” Wood said, after he finally managed to draw her attention towards a particular time slot in which they could practice apart from the team.

Lily blushed. “Yeah. Sorry. I’m very interested,” She looked at the time slot he’d indicated. “And yeah, that should work.”

“It’s a pity you’re meeting with Professor Snape on Mondays at 5pm. Any chance you could change that?” he asked. 

“No, and I don’t want to, it’s the only time he had available,” Lily answered, pulling her legs into her arms and leaning back in the chair.

“Saying you don’t want to change a meeting with the head of Slytherin House to help you have time for Gryffindor Quidditch practice… it almost calls into question your loyalties,” Wood muttered.

Lily was getting the feeling that a lot of Gryffindors did not like Professor Snape, and she did not know why. “Well, honestly, Wood, I am more loyal to the first person who’s properly welcomed me to the Wizarding World than I am to some sports team, and if that’s a problem it’s yours,” Angry, she stood up and snatched her timetable. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I actually have to see the professor you were trying to get me to disrupt my studies with.”

As Lily headed to the door of the common room, she heard Oliver Wood ask the Weasley twins “Any idea what the hell is going on with Potter?”

Fred shrugged. “I don’t know, mate. Ask Hermione.”

***

Lily did her best to walk in a dignified way to the Potions professor’s office, but she was rushing and worried so it didn’t work properly. 

“Lily! Hello, it’s nice to see you,” Snape said, opening the door when Lily entered and directing her to a chair across from his desk. “Did you have a question for me?”

Lily hung back by the door, biting her lip in anxiety. “My mom,” she managed to force out.

“Yes?” Snape gave her a look that indicated  _ continue. _

“You were friends with her. Did you two consider each other family?” she blurted out. 

Snape looked contemplative for a moment, and then answered her question. “We were very close from before Hogwarts through our fifth year at Hogwarts, and I certainly considered her a sister of sorts. She thought of me as a best friend, but I’m not sure if she thought of me as family. Why do you ask?”

Lily sighed in disappointment, and then checked herself. It was probably egotistical to think that even if Lily Evans had considered Severus Snape a relative, he’d want to be her guardian. Nobody had wanted her, after all, and that’s why she’d been placed with the Dursleys.

“Because…” she stuttered, “because Dumbledore mentioned some sort of protection magic that involved me living with someone who was a member of my mother’s family. And I asked if it was possible that she considered any magical people family more than her sister, and he said it was. And I know you two were close, so I thought maybe…”

“Maybe I would be your guardian if Albus Dumbledore would permit it,” Professor Snape stood up and walked over to Lily, putting a hand on her shoulder. “Lily, I meant what I said when I told you my greatest regret was not ensuring that you were better taken care of. If that is a way that you can be protected from the Dark Lord while not living with those horrible Muggle relatives of yours, you need to just ask and I will.”

Lily gaped up at him, amazed that he was so eager to help her. She wasn’t worth it. The Dursleys didn’t think she was, she hadn’t even been wanted by her parents, and clearly Dumbledore hadn’t cared enough about her to place her in a wizarding home…

“You are not,” Snape cut Lily off, and she blinked up at him. “Apologies. I should not be using Legilimency on you, but my point stands. An unfortunate set of circumstances has led to you, Lily Potter, believing you are worthless. You are not only worth something because you are the Girl Who Lived or the daughter of two powerful wizards, although that is one reason you are so important. You are also important because you are a daughter of Magic, and that blessing should be acknowledged and you should have been raised by someone better than the Dursleys.”

Lily continued looking up at Snape in confusion, albeit appreciation of his encouragement of her. She’d only seen the “daughter of Magic” thing in an older book Hermione had checked out from the library, and that book had said it was a phrase that was no longer used. It was nice to think that she was chosen and special by magic as a whole and not just by a curse backfiring, though.

“With that in mind, would you like to go to Headmaster Dumbledore and explain the situation? I am sure he has a way of telling whether you would be protected by the spell because of living with me,” Professor Snape asked.

Lily nodded, fists clenched tightly. If Dumbledore didn’t see why living with the Dursleys was so unacceptable, she’d tell him. And she’d do a lot more than start a windstorm in his office this time.

***

As Lily and Snape walked to Dumbledore’s office together, Lily told him about what had happened with Oliver Wood in the common room. 

“He actually accused you of failing to be loyal to Gryffindor?” Snape asked with a raised eyebrow. “That’s incredibly rude.”

“Yeah, well I guess he’s just kind of a jerk. McGonagall seemed to think he was a little sexist.” Lily mused.

“If I was head of Gryffindor, and I was informed about that kind of behaviour, I would not accept it,” Snape told Lily, and she noticed his fists were clenching. She instinctively reached out and put a hand over his fist. Here was someone who was so concerned about her, and she didn’t even know why or think she deserved it.

“You don’t need to protect me from everything. I can handle Oliver Wood myself,” Lily told him.

Severus Snape breathed out, relaxing at Lily’s comforting hand. “You’re right, Lily, and I’m sorry.”

Lily wished she was able to do Legilimency too, and could see into the mind of the confusing Potions teacher. He seemed to be loyal to Slytherin, yet he had dropped that loyalty to reprimand Draco Malfoy in her favor — even though all she’d done was be the daughter of Lily Evans Potter. It was good, but weird. She supposed he was just  _ that  _ dedicated to her mother, and that Remus’s letter had either been a misinterpretation of how he’d behaved or blatant lies. It was sounding more and more like her father and his friends had been bullies, not heroes.


	8. Blood Bonds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Snape and Lily make a request to Dumbledore.

“Hello again, Severus,” Dumbledore said when Lily and Snape arrived in his office again. “Does Miss Potter have another question for me?”

He was looking at her coolly, like he didn’t like her very much after the first time they’d met.  _ Let him,  _ Lily supposed. It was a  _ compliment  _ that Albus Dumbledore didn’t like her, as far as she was concerned.

She noticed a smile spreading across Snape’s face, and realized he must have heard her thoughts. Well, at least he approved.

“Something amusing, Severus?” Dumbledore asked, when neither of them responded.

“Oh, nothing, Headmaster,” Snape answered. “Miss Potter merely had a question.”

Lily took a deep breath, and then burst out “The last time I was here, we talked about whether my mother could’ve considered any magical person a relative. I want to know if my blood considers Professor Snape to be a close magical relative, please.”

Lily didn’t like that she had to be asking the headmaster about this kind of thing, but he had warned her that although it would likely be possible for him to do the magic test without Albus Dumbledore, blood magic was considered “dark” and it wouldn’t be a good idea to hide that from the headmaster.

“You are aware that such a test is… controversial, are you not, Miss Potter?” Dumbledore inquired.

Lily nodded. “And I guess that was why you didn’t do it in the first place with any magical person my mother could’ve been related to.”

“It would have been immoral to use a child’s blood for magic when she could not properly consent,” Dumbledore said. “So yes, this is why I did not do the test. However, Miss Potter, if you consent to the test, I see no reason why you should not be able to see whether the magic your mother used to protect you considers you to be related to Professor Snape.”

“So… how do we do it? I want to,” Lily said, looking over at Snape nervously. She really  _ wanted  _ to be related to him, and not just the Dursleys.

Dumbledore nodded, and opened one of the cabinets in his office, withdrawing both a vial of blood and a contraption with a wooden base and needles poking up from little wells in it. He set it down on his desk, with one of the wells closest to Lily and the other five closer to him.

“This is a simple device used for testing the attraction between the blood of an individual and others. It’s most often used by the Dark Side when they wish to test whether a Muggleborn has magical connections in their blood or not, so that they can decide that Muggleborn is one of the few worthy ones. It can, however, be used to test whether the spell your mother put on your blood will allow Severus Snape to protect you,” Dumbledore explained, uncorking the vial of blood.

Lily looked over at Snape, who appeared somewhat uncomfortable with Dumbledore’s explanation of the magical device. She figured that maybe that was the biased explanation of why the Dark Side used that device…

“And that’s my aunt’s blood? Lily asked, pointing at the vial of blood. “Why do you have it?  _ How  _ did you get it?”

Dumbledore chuckled a little. “I have it because when I saw her for the first time after you had been adopted, I took some of her blood in case it would be necessary for any blood-related protective spells. I haven’t had cause to use it, and I believe I can spare some for this test,”

Lily nodded as Dumbledore poured a drop of Petunia Dursley’s blood into the first well. Snape pricked his finger on the needle protruding from the second well, and some of his blood fell into it.

“Anytime now, Miss Potter,” Snape said with a good-natured smile at Lily.

Lily nodded, and pricked her finger on the needle protruding from the well closest to her. She watched as the blood went down the lane between its source and Snape’s well.

“Well, I think this is the answer we’re looking for…” Dumbledore reached for his wand, but before he could, the two drops of blood collided. Dumbledore stepped back as a spark erupted from the combination of blood, first small but then like a firecracker, shooting up to the ceiling of the office and colliding with it. A burning smell filled the room as sparks shot down from the ceiling, surrounding Lily and Snape.

“I would say there is a definite connection between our magic,” Snape said with a smile at Lily.

Dumbledore recovered quickly, vanishing the combination of blood in the device and Levitating the device itself back to the closet. “Miss Potter, I regret to tell you that I cannot allow you to live with Professor Snape. Please excuse yourself from my office — I must talk with him.”

Lily gaped at Dumbledore, confused. Had she done something wrong?

“Now, Miss Potter,” Dumbledore repeated, opening the door to his office so she could walk out.

_ It’s alright, Lily.  _ Snape’s voice echoed in her mind as she rushed to the door.  _ I’ll figure it out.  _

***

Lily stood outside of Dumbledore’s office, ear pressed to the door. She didn’t care if Dumbledore found out that she was listening in — her request had been rejected for no reason, and he wanted her to go back to the  _ Dursleys.  _ That was something she was determined never to do. If she had to run away from the Dursleys and live with a guardian who actually seemed to care about her, she  _ would.  _

“I am sure you understand why I am upset with you, Severus,” Dumbledore’s voice echoed through the door, and Lily furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. Why would Dumbledore be mad at Professor Snape?

“I do indeed understand why you are upset, Headmaster, but I do not see why your reasons are valid,” Professor Snape responded, calmly. Lily had the feeling there was something she didn’t understand, and she hoped Professor Snape would explain it to her. 

“The reaction that just happened because of the combination of your blood shows exactly what the problem is, Severus,” Dumbledore explained. “You are too close with the girl, because of your connection with her mother. It will be even more devastating when you lose her — for example, if she becomes aware of the full degree of your feelings for her.”

Lily was confused. Of course she knew Professor Snape had loved her mother. He’d made that very obvious. He’d also made it obvious that he cared about her because she reminded him of Lily Evans, and he didn’t want to see her hurt. There was nothing wrong with that!

“Additionally,” Dumbledore continued, “you clearly adore and idolize the girl. She already gets plenty of that here — McGonagall has given her the role of Seeker despite her age, and I’m sure you’ve observed the way the other students look at her. She does not need that in the summers, too. She needs reality, someone showing her that she is  _ not  _ special. This is why she needs to live with the Dursleys.”

Lily gulped and leaned against the door, breathing hard. Dumbledore wanted her with the Dursleys because she  _ wasn’t  _ special, wasn’t worthy of any of the special treatment she was getting at Hogwarts. 

She heard steps towards the door and skirted away, down the stairs. Fortunately, it wasn’t Dumbledore. It was a furious Professor Snape. Lily opened her mouth to say something, but he clasped a hand over her mouth.

_ “Follow me.” _


	9. Trust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Severus Snape appeals to a higher authority.

Snape barely spoke to Lily as he strode down the corridors back to his office, Lily struggling to keep up. This was the kind of anger she’d seen when he had talked down Draco in the Potions class, but so much worse. 

He seemed to want Lily to stay, so when he stood up again and cast some charms on the doorknob, she stayed in her seat, hoping he wasn’t mad at her. 

“I am not mad at you,” Snape informed her when he was done with the charms, sitting down across from her. “I am mad at Albus Dumbledore.”

“I… don’t get it,” Lily admitted, looking down at her robes. “What does the magical reaction between our blood have to do with how I _can’t_ have you as a guardian? It seems like it should mean that you would be a better guardian than the Muggles…”

Snape sighed. “Our illustrious headmaster doesn’t want you getting any ideas about your importance, which is why he dislikes me spending time with you — or frankly, you becoming a part of the magical community at all.”

“What’s wrong with me considering myself important?” Lily asked, remembering Remus Lupin’s letter. She didn’t like what he had said about staying away from Snape, but she was glad that at least some other wizard agreed that studying with the rest of the kids her age. The only reason Albus Dumbledore had wanted to give her private tutoring was so that he could tell her how unimportant she was, it seemed.

“Quite frankly, I don’t know. Arrogance is a vice, but only if you don’t have the skills to support your claims. You are prophesied to kill one of the greatest wizards of all time, and from what I’ve seen your magic is strong. I do not understand Albus Dumbledore’s motivations, and I do not wish to,” Snape answered.

“Okay. So… um, should I go back to the common room?” Lily asked, eyes darting around the room. 

“Only if you wish to go back to the Dursleys in June,” Snape answered. 

Lily looked to the door, which shimmered with unknown magic. “What did you do to the door?” she asked.

“Do you trust me?” he asked in response.

Lily nodded, unable to make the words come out. She’d felt like she trusted him before, but right now, he wasn’t acting trustworthy and she didn’t know what to make of it. She _wanted_ to be able to trust him, and if he wanted the best for her… 

“There is someone more powerful than Albus Dumbledore, and he will put you in the custody of somebody other than the Dursleys if you show him the promise you have shown me,” he explained.

Lily’s lip quivered. “More powerful than Dumbledore?” Hagrid had told her that Dumbledore was the most powerful light wizard in Britain. Which, unless they were going to be traveling to another country, meant…

“Yes. Dark wizards are often more powerful than light ones. And I happen to be a servant of the most powerful one. Dumbledore is aware of this, but he believes I am spying for him, not the other way around.”

“Voldemort,” The name left Lily’s lips in a whisper. The man who had killed her parents. Who had killed her mother, who Snape loved. Who had tried to kill _her,_ when she was a baby.

“I pleaded with him not to kill her, and he did try. She, however, refused to step aside, and with her death created the blood magic that Dumbledore refuses to admit he appreciates. She was not… _such_ a Light witch once, but that changed when she grew closer with your father and his friends,” he explained.

“How do I know I’d be safe… in the presence of him?” Lily asked, trying not to shake. 

Snape reached a hand out across the desk, and Lily instinctively held on to it. “I care for you deeply, Lily,” he explained. “I have also been in the service of the Dark Lord since before you were born, and I know my master. He does not kill magical children with promise who may wish to join his side for no reason, even ones prophesied to kill him. Additionally, your mother’s blood spell keeps him from even touching you. He can’t very well kill you, can he?”

“He could order someone to kill me, “ Lily muttered.

“If the person attempted to kill you because he wanted you dead, it would backfire. And the Dark Lord is in enough control of his followers that none of them would attempt to kill you of their own volition,” Snape explained.

“And if I don’t go?”

“If you don’t go, I will Obliviate you, and insert a memory of us fighting over how your father and I didn’t get along and you don’t want to disrespect his legacy by befriending me. I will then avoid you, and it will be as if I never told you this information. I trust you can understand that I would want to keep my secret safe. Running for the door won’t do anything — it is locked, and there are charms to ensure that no one will hear you if you scream. Alternatively, I will take you to the Dark Lord and we will ensure you have a better guardian come summer,” he answered her.

Lily shivered, keeping her eyes on the desk although she hadn’t let go of Snape’s hand yet. She didn’t want to look at him, someone who had just threatened her like that. It made sense, and she didn’t want to lose him — someone who cared about her, and who wanted her to have a better life. He was doing that because he wanted her to be happier, she realized. He wouldn’t have even told her about being part of the Dark Side if he didn’t believe it could help her. And his explanation made sense. Voldemort wouldn’t want to kill her, and he _couldn’t_ kill her.

“Okay,” Lily nodded. “Let’s go.”

“Excellent. I’m proud of you for making the right choice,” Snape squeezed her hand, and Lily looked up at him with a weak smile. She hoped it really was. 

***

Lily blinked, her eyes adjusting to the dim light of Malfoy Manor. Snape stood next to her, hand on her shoulder. “Voldemort is at Draco Malfoy’s house?” she asked, confused.

“Currently, yes, while his actual house is under repair. Lucius Malfoy is one of his most loyal followers, and Malfoy Manor is huge. It’s a good place for him to hold meetings,” Snape explained.

“What does Lucius Malfoy think of what you said to his son in Potions?” Lily asked with a giggle. 

“Doesn’t know currently. I’m sure he’ll understand once he knows that I kept his son from making a complete fool of himself in front of both Slytherin and Gryffindor,” Snape shrugged, not seeming particularly concerned.

Despite her anxiety, Lily found herself smiling and feeling more relaxed. Snape wanted to help her, and he wouldn’t let Draco Malfoy, the Dursleys or even Voldemort hurt her.

Snape kept his hand on her shoulder as they rounded the corner and came face to face with a door. He rapped on it.

“Lucius?” a voice called out, and Lily shivered. She’d know that voice anywhere, from clips of old speeches and attacks she heard on the wizarding radio. He Who Should Not Be Named. Voldemort.

“Severus Snape, my Lord,” Snape called through the door. 

“Come in,” the voice said.

Professor Snape opened the door, and Lily trailed behind him. 

“Severus. And… the Girl Who Lived. What a pleasant surprise,” Voldemort’s voice displayed no emotion as he rose from the table to shake Snape’s hand. He then turned to Lily, and his eyes seemed to pierce her even more than she’d thought the Potions professor’s did. “I would shake your hand as well, but I’m afraid that is impossible considering the situation.”

“Understood…” Lily answered, trying to be polite. How had tonight turned into this?

“My Lord, as I told you before, Miss Potter has been badly neglected and abused living with the Dursleys. Because this is not a fit environment for a child of Magic, I convinced Albus Dumbledore to perform a test to see if I would be an equally suitable guardian while maintaining the protection spell Lily Evans Potter created. He is aware that I would be, but refused our request for me to become her guardian,” Snape explained. Lily was in awe of how he could just _talk_ to Voldemort, and update him like that. She was pretty sure she would melt under the pressure if she was asked to explain herself.

“And, Miss Potter, you wish for him to be your guardian?” Voldemort asked, turning to her.

Lily nodded. 

“I’m afraid there is an additional complication, Severus,” Voldemort told Snape, in a measured voice. “This is the first time I have come face to face with Miss Potter since that Hallow’een eve, and it confirms a suspicion I had. Miss Potter is not merely the Girl who Lived — she is also a Horcrux.” 

Lily’s eyes grew wide. She didn’t know what that was, but it didn’t sound good. 

“A Horcrux, Miss Potter, is a part of a witch or wizard’s soul, stored inside either an inanimate object or an animate being, in order to ensure immortality. In this case, I did not intend for you to become my Hocrux, but the events of October 1981 caused me to accidentally create one,” Voldemort explained.

“… Does Dumbledore know?” Lily asked, thinking back to how Dumbledore had told Snape that she needed to think she wasn’t special.

“I’m almost certain he does,” Voldemort answered. “Miss Potter, would you mind stepping into the sitting room so I may talk to Severus privately?”

Lily bit her lip. “Sure,” She contained part of the Dark Lord’s soul. He wouldn’t let any harm come to her, and neither would any of his followers. She really _was_ special.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is where the sexual assault comes in. So, be warned of that.


	10. The Heiress

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lily meets Narcissa Malfoy and her status is cemented on the Dark Side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: sexual assault/pedophilia for the last scene of this chapter. You can skip it if you like.

Somehow, Lily sensed that it wouldn’t be a good idea to listen at the door for a conversation between _Voldemort_ and Snape, so she proceeded to Malfoy Manor’s sitting room. To her surprise, a blonde woman was already there, reading an issue of the _Prophet._

“Hi…” Lily said, when the woman looked up at her. “My name’s Lily. Lily Potter. Professor Snape brought me here to talk to the Dark Lord, and the two of them are now having a conversation. I was told to wait here.”

The woman smiled, and reached out a hand to shake Lily’s. “Good evening, Miss Potter. I am Narcissa Malfoy. I hope you’re enjoying your visit to Malfoy Manor so far.”

Lily nodded, shaking Narcissa’s hand. “I am. It’s a very nice house.”

“Yes, I suppose you haven’t had much experience with wizarding houses…” Narcissa trailed off, looking at Lily to gauge her reaction.

“Not living with Muggles, no,” Lily answered with a smile. “Although I’ve found the Wizarding World very welcoming so far.”

“Living with Muggles…” Narcissa shook her head. “No magical child should ever be subjected to that.”

“What about Muggleborns?” Lily asked, confused. “I have a friend who’s a Muggleborn. Hermione Granger. She says her parents raised her well, and they’re proud of her for being magical.”

“Oh…” Narcissa blushed, and tried to rephrase. “I simply meant that Muggleborn children should be put in contact with Wizarding relatives.”

“But they’re Muggleborn!” said Lily, confused. “They don’t have any!”

Narcissa sighed. “That is what Dumbledore and his ilk would like you to think. The truth is, Muggleborns nearly always can be discovered to have _some_ magical heritage, through a Squib from a prominent Wizarding family or a great-great-grandparent. Magic doesn’t just pop up out of nowhere.”

“Oh,” Lily answered. “So… Hermione could have magical relatives?”

Narcissa nodded. “She very likely does. It’s a tragedy, Muggleborns being brought to the so-called Light side and never learning about their ancestry and place in the Wizarding world.”

_So that’s why they use the blood testing device,_ Lily thought. _Not because they think most Muggleborns are bad._ “I bet Hermione would _want_ to learn about her heritage,” Lily mused.

“Well then, I hope the girl does,” Narcissa said with a smile.

Soon, she returned to her newspaper, and a few minutes later, the door to the study opened and Severus Snape walked out, along with Voldemort.

Lily moved to stand up, but Voldemort waved his hand and she stayed seated. The two men sat across from her, on the same sofa as Narcissa.

“Narcissa, get your husband,” Voldemort instructed Narcissa sharply. Narcissa nodded, hurrying away to find Lucius.

“Should you choose to accept the title, Miss Potter, you are my heiress. As you have a portion of my soul attached to yours, I am your closest magical relative and presumptive guardian. I do not wish to harm you, but I hope you understand that if you do _not_ accept the relation I must wipe your memory of the events of tonight,” Voldemort explained.

Another threat of a memory wipe? Lily shuddered.

“Why wouldn’t I accept it?” she asked.

“Mainly, the fact that Albus Dumbledore has been treating you like a pawn, and maintaining guardianship over you because he hopes that he will be able to convince you to sacrifice yourself in order to destroy me,” he explained.

“S… sacrifice myself?” Lily asked, eyes wide. “Why would I have to do that? I’m prophesied to kill you!”

“Yes, you are. However, in order to destroy my final Horcrux and make me mortal again, the vessel containing it needs to be destroyed. That vessel is you, Miss Potter.”

“But… why? Why would I want to die to kill you?” Lily stuttered. “I don’t want to die!” She was shaking now, and Snape moved from the other sofa to hold her. She leaned into him, scared.

“I was hoping you would react like that. Together, Miss Potter, we could conquer the world. I could help you destroy the Dursleys, and anyone else who has wronged you. You would have power only second to me, and you would no longer have to answer to Albus Dumbledore. I have no desire to harm you, and I hope you have no desire to harm me. The prophecy that says one of us must kill the other has another possible meaning — _neither can live while the other survives._ It is my opinion, and Severus’s, that the prophecy foretells a half-life for both of us if we do not unite. Always looking over our shoulders, terrified of what might happen if the other one triumphs.”

“I don’t want that,” Lily answered.

“Then I believe the decision has been made, if you are in agreement. You do need to return to Hogwarts tonight before curfew, but you will return not as only the Girl Who Lived but also as the heiress to the Dark Lord. Would the Dark Princess be a fitting title?” he asked.

“… Sure,” Lily couldn’t believe this was happening. She was going to be a _Princess._ That did not sound like “not special” at all.

“Then rise, Lily Slytherin, Dark Princess of Great Britain,” Voldemort commanded her. Lily noticed that Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy had re-entered the room.

Lily shakily stood, as did the Dark Lord. He unsheathed his wand, and pointed it at her palm. She cried out in pain as a gash appeared.

“We must combine our blood so you are officially a member of my family,” the Dark Lord told her. He sliced his own palm, and then put it just centimeters away from hers, enough so that the blood touched. The instant it did, magic filled the room, and he pressed his palm to hers.

Snape looked on in awe as Voldemort said, “I, Voldemort Slytherin, Lady Magic’s chosen Dark Lord, do hereby designate Lily Potter as my heiress and the continuation of the Slytherin bloodline.”

More magic sparked around them, and when the Dark Lord took his palm away, she saw that some of his blood was worming its way into the cut. He cast an incantation, and the cut sealed on both her hand and the Dark Lord’s.

“You are now mine, Lily, even more than you were before. You are my heiress, and you will have power over the Dark Side. It will be quite amusing for my heiress to be attending Hogwarts, and for her to be thought of as the Light’s Chosen One.

“It will be,” Lily smiled. She _liked_ belonging to someone who wasn’t a Dursley.

“Now, I’m afraid you must head back to school before you miss curfew,” Voldemort said, and Lily nodded.

***

A few minutes later, Lily was sitting on the couch in Professor Snape’s office, a steaming mug of tea in her hand.

“Blood magic can be more tiring than it seems, even if there is only a small amount of blood exchanged,” Snape explained. “There’s a calming draught in there, to make you feel better.”

Lily nodded, and obediently drank the tea. She felt the power of the potion seeping through her body, and making her more relaxed. “Thanks. It helps.”

“You’re so powerful now,” Snape said as Lily curled up against him, tired from the events of the night. “The Girl who Lived… I always knew you would be, and now it’s just… perfect.”

Lily smiled up at him, grateful for his praise. He was hers now, since she was a member of the Dark Side, and of course he should appreciate her, but it was still nice to know that he did it of his own free will.

He kept on looking at her, starry-eyed, and Lily felt a twinge of confusion. This went beyond the way someone should look at her. He looked completely devoted, helplessly trapped by his admiration of her. The kind of idolization Dumbledore had been worried about.

She barely noticed him shifting closer to her on the couch before he was even more close, pressing his lips to her and wrapping a hand around her waist. Conflicting emotions fought in her, of wanting to be admired and to be his but also that it was too much too fast, as his tongue dove into her mouth and he lifted her onto his lap. She struggled weakly, the calming drought he’d given her making her body not cooperate. She liked affection, but this was different and she hadn’t even asked for it!

After too long, he moved away slightly, his face only centimeters away from hers. She forced her body to move and pushed herself off of his lap, blushing.

“Lily…” His voice was pleading as he unlocked the door.

“I’ll see you in Potions, Professor,” Lily told him sharply, walking to the door, missing the feeling of him touching her but now wondering whether all of his comfort had been leading up to _this._


	11. Moonlit Conversations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lily talks with Percy and Hermione.

It would have almost been impossible to tell that something had changed between Lily and Snape, based on the way they acted in Potions class. Lily was, as ever, devoted to her studies, and Snape was professional — more so than he had been that night.

Somehow, Hermione noticed. At least, it would become evident that night that she had. When Lily mentioned that she was going to be out of Gryffindor Common Room, Hermione bit her lip. “Actually, Lily… Percy and I wanted to talk to you.”

Percy? Why did Percy Weasley talk to her? “Is it important?” Lily asked. She wanted to introduce herself to the Slytherins as soon as possible. And honestly, to make it very obvious to Draco Malfoy that she was more powerful than him. The heiress of the Dark Lord had to be more powerful than the Malfoy heir, right? That was how it worked.

“Pretty important, yeah. Can you please come?” Hermione pleaded as they headed to Charms.

“Okay,” Lily nodded. Maybe it had something to do with a prefect problem that Percy wanted her opinion on. She still didn’t know how much power she had in Gryffindor, but if he was going to look for a first year’s advice on some house-related thing, he would probably go to the Girl Who Lived and the smartest girl in the year.

***

Unfortunately, the conversation that evening was not Percy Weasley rightfully asking Lily’s opinion on something. He invited Lily and Hermione up to his dorm, citing the need for a private conversation.

“We’re worried about you, Lily,” Percy said, as Lily looked at him blankly. They’d never exactly made a pattern of using each other’s first names.

“Okay. Why?” she asked.

Percy took a deep breath, and then explained. “Last night, I went by Snape’s office in the Dungeons, and noticed the door was magically charmed. Strong charms, too — protective ones and silencing charms along with a more-than-standard magical lock.”

“And?” Lily didn’t appreciate the insinuation that Percy hadn’t trusted Snape. The night before had been awkward, sure, but they would get through it. She doubted he would let her go that easily, and she didn’t want to lose someone her magic was so attracted to. He hadn’t even tried to stop her leaving!

“And you were in the office with him at that point, Lily,” Percy pointed out. “Snape shouldn’t be hiding what goes on in your private lessons like that. Did he… did he touch you?”

“What? No!” Lily sputtered. She _wanted_ to tell him that she’d actually been at Malfoy Manor, being crowned the Dark Princess, but that would be a terrible idea. Also, the charms hadn’t because he’d wanted to hide the fact that he _kissed_ her. They’d been because he needed to hide what he was telling her about his true loyalties.

“Alright,” said Percy, not appearing entirely trusting of what Lily had said. “Well, if he touches you inappropriately, or does anything that makes you feel uncomfortable… you know where to find me.”

Lily rolled her eyes. “Yeah. Sure.”

Percy looked like he was about to say something else, but stopped himself. “Okay. I’m glad we had this talk. Enjoy wherever you were going to go tonight.”

Percy then turned and unceremoniously left the dormitory. Lily and Hermione stayed, sitting on the window seat facing his bed.

“Are you okay?” Hermione asked, putting a soft hand on Lily’s arm.

Lily leaned against the window. “I don’t know.” She wanted to be able to trust Hermione enough to tell her what had happened, but she didn’t know if she did. She didn’t want Hermione getting super upset — Snape wasn’t terrible, he had let her go and he would be okay with it if she never wanted to kiss him again. But Hermione, having only heard things about Snape from the Weasley twins and the other Gryffindors… she wouldn’t understand.

“I’m worried. Mainly just worried that something fishy might have been going on because of all the charms that there were on the doors. Professors don’t usually do that. Even if you are an exception,” Hermione cracked a small smile.

Lily laughed, but her smile quickly turned somber again. Hermione was looking at her with so much concern, and she really had no idea who she could tell about what had happened with Snape. Sure, the Lupin guy in the letter had offered to help her out, but she barely knew him. She didn’t trust Dumbledore either — he’d been perfectly willing to abandon her with the Dursleys for ten years.

“Something… weird… did happen,” Lily admitted, unable to bear the silence. “After my lesson, he gave me a Calming Draught, and…”

“And?” Hermione asked, putting a tentative arm up to hug Lily. Lily caved and leaned into her arms.

“And then he started talking about how powerful I was, and… kissed me,” Lily told her, not wanting to admit the part about the calming draught having additional effects or how he’d picked her up and put her in his lap. “It felt good and I think I wanted him to be closer to me, but it also was scary.”

Hermione sighed, flicking away a tear that fell down Lily’s face. “You deserve kisses from someone better,” she muttered.

“What if I kind of do wish he would kiss me again?” Lily bit her lip. “Just… more gently.”

“Then that’s okay, I guess,” Hermione shrugged. “But I don’t think it’s okay for him to want to kiss you.”

Lily looked at Hermione in confusion. She startled at Lily’s expression, but then explained. “You know. Pedophilia? Parents warning you about creepy men trying to talk to you or get you alone and how you should yell if that happens? That it’s okay to have a crush on a teacher, but it’s not okay for them to have a crush on you back? Like, I had a crush on my English teacher, Miss Buxbaum, because she was very nice and smelled pretty, and I told my mom about how I had a crush on her and how nice she was and she explained that stuff to me.”

Lily bit her lip. “I never had parents to tell me that kind of thing,” she admitted.

“Oh. Yeah. Of course,” Hermione said, blushing. “Sorry, I just thought your aunt and uncle would’ve—”

Lily shook her head. “They didn’t.”


	12. My Princess

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lily is introduced to the Slytherins, and Draco Malfoy apologizes.

“I’m surprised you took so long to come to claim your new title in front of Slytherin House.”  
Lily looked over at Snape with an irritated expression. She’d “coincidentally” ran into him on her way through the dungeons to the Slytherin common room. She wondered if he’d been in his classroom in the evenings as opposed to his office specifically because he hoped to intercept her on her way there. That comment made her theory even more likely.  
“Well, you know, a lot to think about,” Lily muttered. This was the first time she’d spoken directly to the professor since he’d kissed her two nights ago. She’d mentally prepared for their inevitable conversation, but the preparation hadn’t been enough.  
Lily flinched as Snape reached out for her chin and looked at her face. “I’m sorry for kissing you the other night, Lily. I won’t deny being attracted to you, but I will never act on that attraction again if you don’t want me to.”  
Lily looked up at him, blinking. If you don’t want me to — that was the tricky part. She’d liked the kiss, but not the part where she’d felt not in control of it. She had an uncomfortable attraction to the man, but she was the Dark Princess of Slytherin, and if she was allowed to feel that, why wasn’t he allowed to reciprocate? Hermione had told her what her parents thought about those kinds of relationships, but they were Muggles — maybe things were different in the wizarding world. She hadn’t met a Muggle she liked ever, really, so why would she trust them?  
“I don’t know,” Lily answered, through half-closed eyes. “I just. I still want you in my life.”  
“Of course,” Snape bowed his head slightly, and dropped his hand. “It’s okay if you don’t know.”  
Lily fidgeted. “Am I… am I allowed to like it when you kiss me?” As startling as it had been when he’d taken her chin in his hand, she’d liked it when she knew she was safe. She wanted to be able to be close to someone who cared about her, to him.   
Snape actually laughed a little, causing Lily to look at him with a hurt expression. When he stopped laughing, he looked back down at her. “Of course you’re allowed to like it. You’re the Dark Princess — you’re allowed to like whatever you want, and I’m honored that you do. Anyone who disapproves of this is a Muggle who doesn’t understand our world or a Light side idiot.”  
Lily’s expression softened. So what she’d thought was right. Things were different in the Wizarding world. And she really had no reason to be worried about what she was feeling if someone who she had part of the soul of would think it was okay.  
“Good,” Lily said. “I’m glad I don’t have to feel bad about it.” She didn’t want to tell Hermione about this conversation. Hermione probably wouldn’t understand how she was the Dark Princess now, and how it was okay for her to kiss whoever she wanted. It was sad because Hermione did seem to care, but she would probably feel better if she didn’t know what was going on with Lily.  
“Would you like a hug?” Snape asked.  
Lily nodded, and Snape put his arms around her waist, pulling her closer. She leaned against his chest and smiled, glad that they had talked about what had happened. Maybe he wasn’t going to be her guardian with the new information about her being a Horcrux of Voldemort’s, but he was still something like an uncle. She wanted to have him in her life, especially because her mother would’ve wanted her to.  
Just then, the door to the Slytherin common room clicked open and Lily heard steps coming down the corridor. A hesitant voice asked “Professor?”  
Snape moved away, keeping his hand on Lily’s shoulder. “Yes, Miss Gibbson?”  
A tall girl, probably older than Percy, stood a few feet away from them.   
“I was merely wondering, Professor, why Miss Potter is in the dungeons?” The girl’s voice was polite but tinged with more irritation than curiosity. Her blonde hair was pulled back in a bun, and a Prefect pin was on her Slytherin uniform.   
“That is an important question, Miss Gibbson. I believe it will be answered in a few minutes, for both you and the rest of Slytherin. Make sure all of the students are in the common room.” Snape said smoothly, walking towards the entrance to the Slytherin Common Room and motioning for Lily.  
Lily’s heart beat fast as she followed Snape to the entrance of the common room, and entered before him. The laughter and talking in the room halted almost instantly, and she saw Draco Malfoy’s head swivel around to look at her.   
Snape strode to the center of the common room, motioning for Lily to follow. When they were together at the center of the room, Snape cleared his throat - although it was not necessary to get the attention of the Slytherins, because they were already staring at their Potions Master and the Girl Who Lived. A few students who had been in the dorms scrambled to find a seat or place to stand, and looked attentively at their head of house.   
“They’re really all on the Dark Side?” Lily asked, wide-eyed. It was hard to believe that an entire house would consist of just Dark wizards and witches.  
“Either that, or they are members of a family that is historically Dark and are neutral,” Snape answered her quietly.  
“So… is somebody going to tell us why the Baby Who Lived is in our common room?” a boy who was a few years older than Lily asked, from one of the chairs.  
Snape instantly reacted, throwing a curse at the boy. “Silencio” with some sort of modification… Lily figured it included pain, when she saw the boy’s hands fly to his mouth. She looked at Snape with confusion. “Are you allowed to curse the students?”  
“According to school rules, the discipline of the students of Slytherin House is up to me. In a more practical sense, the Dark Lord and his followers — parents of these children — trust me to use more useful forms of punishment that the headmaster would not approve of,” Snape answered, stroking his wand. “And soon you will be able to punish as you like, too.”  
He then turned to the rest of Slytherin House. “Two nights ago, the Dark Lord recognized Lily Potter as his heiress and designated her the Princess of the Dark Side. She now has status over all of you, you are to obey her and no slights against her will be permitted.” He then turned to Lily. “Have there been any wrongs committed against you by members of Slytherin House that you wish to correct?”  
You kissing me without asking, Lily thought, but she wasn’t going to say that. She looked towards Draco instead, fixing her glare on him. “Draco Malfoy, you’ve been antagonizing me ever since we came to Hogwarts? What do you have to say for yourself?”  
Draco looked at her, clearly conflicted. Eventually, he cleared his throat. “I’m sorry, My Princess.”  
“I don’t think that will be enough,” Lily told him, with a smirk. It seemed like a fake apology, and like he didn’t respect or like her new authority.  
“What…?” Draco looked at her, confused.  
“I require a pledge of loyalty. I won’t believe you’re sorry until I hear it,” As Malfoy stood up and walked to the center of the common room so he could kneel to her, Lily cast a side-eyed glance at Snape, checking for his approval. He nodded slightly.  
Lily smirked, looking at the arrogant blond boy who was now kneeling to her, instead of teasing her like she was sure he wanted to. “Well, do I have to give you the words or are you going to display independent thought for purposes other than being an arse?”  
Draco gulped, and looked up at Lily. “I, Draco Malfoy, heir to the Malfoy line and descendant of Phineas Nigellus Black, do hereby pledge my loyalty to Lily Potter, the Dark Lord’s heiress.”  
“Do it properly, Malfoy,” Snape hissed, waving his wand so a gash appeared on Draco’s hand.  
Draco took a deep breath and repeated the vow as Lily looked on, doing her best to make sure her confusion didn’t show. She definitely needed to know how all of this blood stuff worked. It was probably something similar to the way the Dark Lord had made her officially related to him. Her stomach twisted at seeing Draco’s blood, but in more of an excited way than anything else. It was powerful.  
“Are you satisfied, My Princess?” Draco then asked, looking up at Lily.  
Lily studied him. Hermione had said she deserved better people to kiss, people around her own age. Draco was around her age, and Snape had said she could order him.  
“Kiss me,” she ordered him.  
Draco’s eyes went wide, but he obeyed Lily, standing up and kissing her. Curious as to what his hair that he was so obsessed with would feel like, Lily reached around his head to grab some of it in his fist. Draco squeaked with what was probably more shock and less pain.  
After a moment, Lily released Draco. “You can go now. I’m bored.”  
Draco stepped away, blinking in amazement at her, and returned to his seat.   
You know, I almost wish that had been me and not Draco, came Snape’s voice, into her mind. Lily giggled. The Head of Slytherin wanted her to command him to kiss her, and to pull his hair like that? That was funny… and she also liked the power she had.  
After Draco returned to his seat, more Slytherins walked up to her to kneel and pledge their loyalty — Crabbe, Goyle, Pansy Parkinson, two twins with the last name Lestrange, the prefects and a few more people she couldn’t keep track of. Lily looked with interest at the blood, wondering what Dumbledore would think of them using blood magic and her liking it.  
Too soon, it was time for Lily to go back to the Gryffindor common room so she didn't get in trouble. Snape walked her to the door, and offered her to accompany her back to the common room.  
“I'm good,” Lily answered. She had a lot to think about.


	13. Lady Magic's Chosen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lily's status is cemented in Gryffindor, and she has another supplemental Potions lesson with Snape.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, so this is going to be the most distressing chapter in the fic. It only gets better from here. If you're triggered by rape scenes (can't blame you) skip from him giving the note to the House Elf to the next chapter.

Lily took a while to wake up properly the next morning as she laid in her bed in the Gryffindor dormitory, images of the various Slytherins pledging themselves to her swimming around in her head, along with Draco’s kiss. She liked that she’d been able to order him to kiss her, and how pretty his hair was.

When she did wake up, she started reading the book her new adoptive father had given her before she returned to Hogwarts. It was in disguise as an astronomy book, but really it was _Lady Magic’s Chosen,_ a book that would only be found in the restricted section of Hogwarts’ library because of the overly traditional views of magic contained in it. The book described the existence of the entity “Lady Magic”, who had blessed magical children with their gift, and explained ways to connect with Her and grow one’s magic. Lily had read up to the chapter about Dedication, a ritual of dedicating yourself to the service of Lady Magic. It was interesting, but her favorite part was the inscription in the front, which appeared when she pricked her finger and allowed a drop of her blood to fall onto the front page. It always made her beam.

_For Lady Magic’s new Princess, from Her chosen Dark Lord. ~ V.S._

Breakfast was served the first Sunday of term until 11:30, so it was fine when Lily arrived late. A lot of the students would be, because there were usually parties pretty late in the common rooms for all of the houses (even Ravenclaw). What she did not expect, however, was for the doors to swing open in front of her, and for Fred and George Weasley to be standing on either side, bowing to her.

“It’s the Gryffindor Princess!” Fred Weasley announced to the Great Hall. Professor McGonagall looked up from her breakfast at the head of the hall with a quizzical expression, but otherwise no-one in particular seemed to mind the twin’s latest antics.

“Thank you, Mr. Weasley,” Lily smiled in response and walked into the hall. Fred stood up and followed Fred to the Gryffindor table. The other Gryffindors were looking at her in a different way now — maybe it was the fact that the twins clearly respected her as an authority, that she was willing to act like she had it, or the higher amount of Slytherin House blood that now ran through her veins.

She sat down next to Hermione and started eating her croissant. From the tension at the table, it was evident that she was now expected to lead the conversation. She turned to Hermione. “The Transfiguration homework we were given on Friday was so hard,” she said. “I still haven’t completed it!”

“I’ll do it, My Princess!” piped up a small boy in Lily’s year from the other side of the table. He was the one who Lily had not learned the name of yet.

“Thank you, dear… what is your name?” Lily asked, finding the situation a little awkward but hoping she could make him feel better by using a term of endearment. Hermione looked at her, wide-eyed. Lily just looked at her like _What?_ There was no particular reason for her to know this random boy’s name. He’d never spoken directly to her, they didn’t room together and she was pretty sure he wasn’t even from any important magical family.

“Colin, miss! Colin Creevey!” the boy answered.

Lily smiled. “Well, Colin, you have just made the Princess very happy with you.”

Some of the upper years exchanged confused expressions at Lily’s decision to accept her title, but after the seventh-year girl prefect looked at them with a harsh expression, they returned to their food.

“Wow. I guess I’m friends with a Princess now,” Hermione beamed, trying and failing to hide a smile.

“Yep, you are,” Lily slung an arm around her best friend’s shoulder. _You have no idea,_ she thought.

***

The next day, Lily sighed in frustration at her potion. During the extra potions class, Snape had tasked her with working on the Antidote to Uncommon Poisons. The instructions were there, but the potion was difficult to make because the instructions were hard to follow and she had already messed up.

“Should I stop trying?” Lily looked up from her potion in frustration. “I’m probably just wasting ingredients.”

Snape crossed the room to put a hand on her shoulder. “If you really believe that you can’t do it, you can stop and we’ll just consider this a failed experiment. However, I believe in you, Lily Slytherin. It’s only a third-year potion, and you’ve shown skill so far. Quite honestly, the potions that Professor Dumbledore assigns are too elementary.”

Lily smiled up at Snape, made more confident by his reassurance. She then looked at the clock and cursed. There were only thirty minutes left before curfew, and the potion took forty-five minutes to set. She hadn’t even put in all the ingredients for her second try yet! “I guess this is a failed experiment, because curfew’s in thirty minutes and I can’t possibly make it by then,” She sighed. She didn’t like disappointing people - especially people who admired her, like Snape clearly did.

Snape looked at the clock and sighed just like Lily had. “That’s frustrating. Do you _want_ to go to bed?”

Lily shook her head. She’d been up late on Saturday, and had had trouble getting to bed at the regular time on Sunday because she’d still been thinking about Slytherin House and her new position as Gryffindor’s Princess. “Couldn’t sleep very well last night. Don’t need to.”

Snape nodded. “Well, in that case I can have a house elf take a note to McGonnagal and explain that we had a problem with your potion and you’re staying out past curfew so you can finish the work. There won’t be very many people in the corridors — I’ll be responsible for supervising you, but I’m sure I can supervise one eleven year old working on a potion that isn’t particularly corrosive.”

Lily laughed as Snape called the house-elf to the office. “I don’t need supervision. I’m more mature than that.”

“You are very mature,” Snape said with a smile as he handed the scribbled note to the house-elf. When it left, he turned to her and said, “You are the Chosen One and the Dark Princess. You don’t need supervision, or anyone telling you what to do. You can do whatever you want.”

Lily’s heart beat fast as she measured the precise amounts of the ingredients into the cauldron. When she stirred the potion this time, it turned into the right color and she cheered a little on the inside. Snape had sat down on the couch in his office after writing the letter to her head of House, and she walked over to him. “Whatever I want… including letting you do what you want despite what stupid Muggles would say?”

Snape looked up at her with a smile. “I would be honored if you would, my Princess.”

Lily sat down on the couch, looking at Snape. Her breath was shallow. “It’s okay?”

“Absolutely,” Snape answered, putting a hand on Lily’s waist and pulling her closer. “There’s nothing wrong with the Princess and Head of Slytherin enjoying themselves.”

Lily smiled, and leaned forward to kiss Snape like she had Draco, tangling her hands in his hair (which was thankfully less oily than usual). As he pushed her against the arm of the couch, thoughts ran through her mind of her conversation with Hermione and how the girl had said to her that she deserved better kisses. Well, this definitely _was_ a better kiss, because she was in control.

Snape broke the kiss, pulling away just slightly from Lily. “The Mudblood brat said _what?”_

Lily stuttered, anxiety causing her to focus more on the conversation with Percy and Hermione before she had actually told Hermione about what had happened. Was he going to be mad at her for being too obvious?

“Yes, I am,” he growled. Lily was suddenly aware of the magical lock on the door and the fact that her Gryffindor friends were safe in their common room, unaware of what was going on and just assuming it was a normal Potions lesson.

“I’m sorry,” she squeaked.

Snape sighed, his hands still wrapped around Lily’s waist. “It’s alright. I’ll just have to show you how good my kisses can be.”

In a few seconds, Lily was swept up and in the Potions professor’s arms. It didn’t feel particularly safe this time. He carried her through the office and into his bedroom, which she hadn’t seen before, and laid her down on the bed. Lily’s mind was racing. The change in scenery obviously meant _something._ Something more than just lip kisses. And she didn’t know if she wanted that.

Lily winced, closing her eyes as he Vanished her clothes and descended on her, kissing and biting her neck in the same agressive way he’d kissed her a week ago. “Professor?” she asked, her voice coming out in a tremor.

“Yes, Lily. I’m going to teach you that Granger is wrong,” he hissed. “I doubt she’ll want to know about _this_ particular interaction, since you started it by kissing me…”

When he moved from Lily’s neck to her barely-there chest, Lily panicked. Without even really meaning to, she pushed her hands up from the bed and directed them at him, pushing him away from her with a gust of magic.

“Oh no you don’t. _Incarcerous.”_ Lily gasped as her hands flew up and thick cords of rope tied them to the bedpost.

Lily’s heart was beating faster, and this time it wasn’t a fun reason. She felt like she was going to throw up, and she knew she couldn’t do anything. His magic was stronger than hers, and he was stronger than her physically. When he put his mouth between her legs, she twitched, feeling like it might have been enjoyable in other circumstances but certainly not right now.

“ _Good girl. You’re so wet for your professor.”_ Snape’s voice came into her mind as he licked between her legs. Lily winced and closed her eyes, horrified but wondering whether he was right. _Did_ she really want him? She had kissed him, after all.

***

Lily lay in the bed, shivering, as Snape bottled the potion she’d made and gave her another mug of tea. She knew better than to refuse him now, so she sipped it as he cast various charms on her to clean the evidence of what had happened away.

“I suppose you should return to your dormitory now,” Snape informed her, when she’d drunk the tea and looked more put-together. “You are, of course, not to tell any Slytherins or Gryffindors what happened tonight.”

Lily felt herself nodding, and walked with a surprisingly calm demeanor to the door of his office. “Goodnight, professor.”

“Goodnight, my Princess, and thank you.” Snape said as she exited the office.

Lily bit her tongue, the acid in her throat threatening to come up like it had earlier. “Princess” felt horrible now.


	14. Lily's First Lesson

The next morning, when whatever Snape had given her had worn off, Lily found her scar prickling uncontrollably. She could barely focus as she headed down to breakfast, and was grumpy when the twins bowed to her.

“Oh no. Our Princess is grumpy. What should we do, George?” Fred asked, turning to his younger twin brother.

“Well, I think I have just the treat!” George said dramatically, winking and pulling out a small packet from his robes and opening it.

“Is it edible?” Lily asked, looking up at George.

“Nope, it’s much better,” George smirked, and with a flash of his arm, tossed the object up to the ceiling of the Great Hall.

It turned out to be a firework, which erupted with a series of explosions, integrating with the weather on the ceiling and sparkling. Several of the Hufflepuffs jumped, and Dumbledore stood up, silencing the fireworks and looking down at the Gryffindor table with a glare.

Lily laughed, her eyes sparkling in the first genuine happiness she’d had since the previous night. “Thanks guys.”

“Anytime, my Princess!” Fred gave a flourishing bow.

“I still can’t get over how they’re calling you Princess,” Hermione laughed.

“Well, I think it’ll stay,” responded Lily. “I deserve it after all.” The title had been somehow fixed now that they were using it and not the Potions professor.

***

After Potions class, during which the prickling in her scar had redoubled and turned into feeling more like burning, Lily found Draco. “We need to go to Hogsmeade,” she informed him.

Draco looked at Lily in confusion. “Why?”

Lily grabbed Draco by his tie and pulled him into an alcove. “Because my scar has been prickling like hell all morning and I’m pretty sure it means that my dad wants me, but I am not going to use Snape’s Floo network.”

Draco sputtered, and Lily realized she was holding his tie too tight. When she released it, he gasped and asked “Why not Snape’s?”

Lily rolled his eyes. “Because I don’t want to.”

“… Why don’t you want to?” Draco asked, narrowing his eyes.

“I can’t tell you that.” Lily grabbed him, by the back of his collar this time, and started dragging him out of the alcove. “Secret passageway to Hogsmeade, now. Where is it?”

Draco lowered his voice as they walked through the Hogwarts corridors. “I just don’t understand why you can’t tell me. Of course, my Princess, I get why you might not want to, but nobody should be able to actually _order_ you around except for your father.”

Lily looked at him inquisitively, narrowing her eyes at him. “Even your father?”

“O-of course,” Draco stuttered, confused. “Lily, I’m pretty sure the heiress of the Dark Lord would be able to control anyone he controlled, provided that he didn’t countermand your orders.”

“Well of course I knew that, I was just testing you,” Lily rolled her eyes as they made their way to the secret passageway. “Now, how do we get in?”

***

Pretty soon, Draco and Lily arrived at Malfoy Manor. As soon as they entered through the gates, the Dark Lord was with them, looking at Lily with concern and Draco with suspicion.

“Was this the one that hurt you?” he hissed.

“No, no, of course not!” Lily babbled, wanting to protect Draco from her new father’s wrath. “Draco helped me get here through the secret passageway.”

“Through the secret passageway?” The Dark Lord raised an eyebrow. “And why could you not use the Floo network of the Death Eater at Hogwarts?”

It was a rhetorical question. Lily felt a presence in her mind, felt him sorting through her memories and finding the ones that were relevant. When he withdrew and she opened her eyes, he was red in the face.

“Malfoy!” he thundered. “Get me Snape!”

***

Lucius soon returned to Malfoy Manor with Snape in tow, and entered the sitting room where the Dark Lord was with his heiress and the other Malfoys. He roughly forced Snape to his knees in front of Voldemort, and Lily let out a sharp gasp of excitement. Snape’s head started to turn very slightly to look at the girl who had made the noise that he must have thought was sexy, but the Dark Lord forced his head back.

“You are not to look at her. You are not to touch her, unless both she and I deem it appropriate,” he thundered. “You have committed a betrayal of the highest degree, first by forcing yourself on my heiress and second by cutting off communication between myself and her so that I would not find out what happened as soon as possible. Thankfully, she was resourceful enough to find someone _properly_ loyal to me, and find her way to where I was. What do you have to say for yourself?”

Snape stuttered, but eventually forced out his words. “My Lord, you simply chose the most beautiful heiress, and she said she wanted to let me do what I wanted to her. I simply taught her to receive pleasure from a man.”

“When my heiress wants you to serve her, you will _stop_ as soon as she feels uncomfortable. Not lose control of yourself and think with your genitals!” he shouted. Narcissa winced and pulled Draco to her. “In fact, I highly doubt that Lily even knew what she was getting into. You, a Marked Death Eater, have betrayed the cause, manipulated my child and abused the power I gave you as Head of Slytherin. What other children have you touched like that?”

“None, My Lord.” Snape muttered.

“Well, one is one too many. _Crucio,”_ The Dark Lord stood back with a calm expression as Severus Snape screamed, experiencing the full magnitude of his Cruciatus Curse. “Lily, my dear,” the Dark Lord said amongst the screaming, “I think it’s time for your first Dark Arts lesson.”

“Oh, no, Severus. You will not be granted the sweet release of death quite yet,” Voldemort said as he positioned himself around Lily, putting his hands over hers on her wand. “Point it at him, like thus, and then say the word I just spoke while concentrating on how much pain he deserves to be in. You can do it.”

Lily smiled up at her father, grateful that _this_ one actually wanted to mentor her in a good way. With his assistance, she pointed the wand at her Potions professor. _“Crucio!”_

It wasn’t as amazing a curse as her father’s earlier one, but it did have a lot of effect. She held it for three minutes, during which his words turned from pleading for release to incoherent sounds.

“See, this is power, Lily Slytherin,” the Dark Lord said, his smooth voice providing a complement to her teacher’s screams. “Power is the ability to hurt, and to destroy, and to control. We won’t destroy Severus’s body yet, but we will break his mind.”

When Lily collapsed in his arms, tired, he let the tired heiress rest while he grabbed Severus’s arm. “And this is how we break him,” he added, pushing the tip of his wand onto Severus’s Dark Mark. “ _Medulla memoria adstrictia mentis_ ,” he muttered, and Snape gasped as the spell coursed through his Mark and to his heart.

“What does that do?” Lily asked blearily from the sofa.

“It binds his loyalty and memories to me more properly. He will never even think of violating you again, because any time he does, he will immediately remember this,” Voldemort instructed. With a swish of his wand, Snape was knocked to the floor, where Lucius Malfoy stomped on his face.

Lily laughed, snorting in glee at the bloody, twitching mess of a Potions professor on the floor of Malfoy Manor’s living room.

“I presume you’re aware now, Lily, that you can punish him in any way you see fit that does not jeopardize the cause or his position at Hogwarts. This goes for other members of the Dark Side as well, as long as you do not make it so they aren’t useful anymore,” Voldemort instructed her.

Lily just looked at him with wide eyes.

“Welcome home,” he told her with a smile.


	15. If You Want Something Done...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lily learns that Remus Lupin is planning on visiting Hogwarts.

All through Transfiguration the next day, Hermione was anxious. Despite having some ability to tell what emotions her friends were having, Lily couldn’t tell _why_ Hermione was so upset.

When the class let out, Hermione immediately walked away from Hermione and towards Lavender Brown, who was talking with Parvati Patil. Lily’s brow furrowed in confusion and irritation. Why was her best friend avoiding her?

As the three other girls walked to the flying lesson, Lily strode up next to them and looked at Hermione. “Hi, Granger. How are you?”

Hermione’s eyes widened at Lily’s use of her last name. “I… I’m fine.”

“Sure,” Lily said in a flat voice, staring down Hermione. “I think we need to talk.”

“O-of course, Princess,” Hermione stuttered out. Lily didn’t know how she felt about Hermione suddenly defecting to using her title. They were closer than that, and this was the first time she’d properly addressed her as such. It seemed like it came out of relying on formality because she didn’t know what else to do as opposed to properly acknowledging that Lily _was_ the Princess of Gryffindor.

Sighing, Lily grabbed Hermione’s arm and pulled her away from Parvati and Lavender. Once they were standing away from the rest of the students, Lily stared down Hermione. “What’s going on? Why are you behaving so strangely?”

“I’m sorry,” Hermione muttered, still avoiding Lily’s eyes.

“I didn’t ask for an apology, although it’s nice to have one. I asked for an _explanation.”_ There was a small hiss to Lily’s voice, something she hadn’t really intended. It sounded like how her father had sounded when he was calling out Snape. Lily clenched her fists and breathed out. It would be a really bad idea to explode on Hermione.

Hermione bit her lip. “Remus Lupin is coming to Hogwarts today.”

“Okay. And… why does that impact me?” Lily raised an eyebrow. “Also, how do you know that?” She hadn’t sent or received any further contact with the Lupin guy who had been her dad’s best friend, so it didn’t really matter to her that he was visiting Hogwarts.

“I’ve corresponded with him a little, by Owl,” Hermione explained, her hands shaking. “It impacts you because… I think he’s going to confront Snape. And possibly want to talk to you.”

Lily sighed, eyes wandering over the Quidditch pitch. “Why would he want to confront Snape?”

“Because I told him about what he did to you,” Hermione finally admitted.

Lily panicked, her breath catching. Could Hermione know about… the second time Snape had done things with her in his office? But no, for better or for worse, Snape had been sneaky. “He just kissed me, Hermione…” Lily muttered.

“There’s no just about it,” Hermione shook her head. “Anyway, I’m guessing that Lupin will want to talk to you, and to Snape. Just… you know, separately. Obviously also Dumbledore, because he’s interviewing for the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts next year…”

“Talk to _Dumbledore?”_ Lily’s eyebrows shot up. No, no, that couldn’t happen. Even if Snape was horrible, he was somebody who was on her side within Hogwarts, and he was the Head of Slytherin. “Hermione, don’t you get it, you’ve ruined everything!”

“I hardly think I have,” Hermione snorted. “If Lupin talks to Dumbledore and Snape gets sacked, that’s for the best. He shouldn’t be doing things with _students_ like that.”

“Fine,” Lily huffed. “Let’s get to Flying,” She supposed she would just have to deal with things on her own, _just_ like she had been doing for the first eleven years of her life with the Dursleys.

***

At lunch that day, Lily stood up from the Gryffindor table and informed her fellow students that she was going to talk to Snape about a Potions assignment.

“Princess, you can’t just… walk up there!” Colin Creevey protested, alongside nods from the Weasley twins.

“Did you just hear what you called me?” Lily asked, narrowing her eyes at him. “You called me Princess. Which means I can do what I want. I hardly think I’ll get detention for walking up to the head table and trying to get the Potions master’s attention.”

Colin gulped, and Lily shrugged.

“Lily…” Hermione said in a pleading voice. Lily just rolled her eyes. She knew what Hermione was trying to do, and she wasn’t going to do the “right” thing. Not if doing the right thing meant losing control of Slytherin. She liked her power, and she was going to do whatever she wanted to preserve it.

It was most definitely not usual for a first year to walk up to the head table and actually have the attention and obedience of the Potions master, but Lily Slytherin was not usual. Snape nodded along with her request, saying, “Of course, Miss Potter. There’s some time left in lunch, so how about we head to the Potions classroom and I help you out with your issue?”

Thankfully, the Potions classroom was right near the Slytherin common room, which Lily was happy about because she was of the sneaking suspicion that she might need another Slytherin to help her fix this problem.

“What do you need, my Princess?” Snape asked, not even batting an eye when Lily sat down on top of one of the tables.

“Your fuckup has had consequences, Severus,” Lily informed him.

Snape’s mouth opened briefly, and he started to apologize, but Lily cut him off. “No. I have not given you permission to speak yet. You’re going to _show_ me how sorry you are. Hermione Granger has told Remus Lupin about how you kissed me, and apparently he’s coming to Hogwarts today to interview for the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher next year, and also to confront you, and possibly tell Albus Dumbledore about what happened. Do you understand the gravity of this situation?”

“I do, my Princess,” Snape responded. Lily could tell that he was terrified of how he would be punished. Lily was _also_ a little terrified — the Dark Lord was a Legilimens, and she’d clearly made an error by talking to a _Gryffindor_ about how Snape had kissed her. What if he used the Cruciatus Curse on _her?_

“So what do we do?” Lily demanded.

Snape hesitated a moment before replying. “There is a curse that can control how someone else acts… but it’s considered Unforgivable. Anyone above O.W.L. age who is caught practicing it lands themselves a life sentence in Azkaban.”

Lily shrugged. She figured the Cruciatus Curse would cause the same problem. “Then whoever casts it better not get caught. Pick someone who won’t, and who will actually land it on a wizard who’s powerful enough that Dumbledore is considering him for a position at Hogwarts combatting the very thing that we’re trying to get him under.”

“I — of course, my Princess.” Snape answered. He was clearly startled, but still obedient. _Finally._


	16. Eva Rosier

All eyes were on Lily and Snape when they entered the Slytherin Common Room, but Lily didn’t acknowledge most of them, instead walking straight over to the fifth-year Prefect Eva Rosier who Snape had picked out for casting the Imperious Curse on Remus Lupin.

“My Princess,” Eva said in a quiet voice when Lily greeted her, dipping into a quick curtsy.

“Miss Rosier, our Princess has a job for you,” Snape informed her, and the three quickly moved walked to Snape’s office.

“What is needed of me, Princess?” Eva asked when the three were sitting in Snape’s office. Her hands were folded primly on her lap, and although she was acting calm Lily could tell that she was a little anxious. Well, of course she was; the new Princess of the Dark Side had a request for her, and it also involved a Death Eater.

“Our lovely Head of House has made a mistake, and a powerful witch’s Imperius curse is needed to keep Albus Dumbledore from finding out about it,” Lily answered her, nodding to Snape.

Eva’s eyes widened in surprise as Lily explained the problem that they had. Lily hid a smile as she realized that Eva Rosier would respect Snape even less after she knew about this, which would probably mean that she would respect _Lily_ more.

The three were discussing the plans for how to catch Lupin and Obliviate him when there was a knock on the door of Snape’s office. Snape held up a finger, causing Eva to quiet and Lily to roll her eyes, and walked over to the door to open it.

Remus Lupin walked in, looking at Snape with irritation, which turned to a glare when he saw Lily and Eva sitting in his office with him. “Severus. I wish to talk with you and Lily. Please dismiss the prefect.”

Snape sighed and did exactly that, and Eva excused herself from the office, mumbling a much more informal goodbye to Lily.

“Lily. I’m so sorry,” Lupin immediately said, opening up his arms and clearly expecting Lily to hug him. Lily blinked, but resigned herself to letting Lupin hug her. He was a decent hugger, but really? She’d never said anything to him directly, and here he was, some distant relative man who she barely knew, _expecting_ a hug from the Girl Who Lived. She didn’t want to look like she was siding with Snape or the Dark Side, so she was okay with it, but she was only doing it because that was the Slytherin thing to do. Snape narrowed his eyes, and Lily just stared back up at him. She did not appreciate him using Legilimency on her right now, at all.

“What the bloody _hell_ did you think you were doing, Severus?” Lupin hissed at Snape once he’d released Lily from the hug, glaring at him.

“I made a mistake,” Snape answered calmly, with the same measured voice that he used in Potions classes with Slytherin and Gryffindor.

“A mistake?” Lupin hissed, pulling out his wand. “What you did is more than a mistake. It was _assault,_ abuse of a child…”

In an action that was probably more Gryffindor than Slytherin, Lily threw out her hand and grabbed Lupin’s wrist, lowering it. “Please. I don’t think duels are legal. Dumbledore will be able to deal with him,” she said in a pleading voice, sounding every bit like the “Girl Who Lived” that Lupin expected her to be. 

Lupin turned towards Lily with an irritated expression, but his face softened when he saw how anxious she was. “You’re right. I’m sorry, Lily. I shouldn’t be involving you in this,” he said, lowering his wand. “But I do not like that Professor Snape was alone with you and another student, and I doubt that Dumbledore will either when he finds out what this Professor has done during my interview after this…”

Lily bit her lip, nodding. “Can I… go?” she asked, turning to Lupin. “I don’t really like being near him.”

“Of course, sweetheart,” Lupin said with a smile. Lily walked out of the office and towards Eva Rosier, who was sitting on a bench near Snape’s office.

“Do you think you can do this?” Lily asked, sitting down.

“Yes, My Princess. Of course I can,” Eva nodded.

“Good. Because it’s really important. Lupin is about to head over to Dumbledore’s office for his interview, and if he catches you and you look like you actually knew what you were doing, you’ll be in trouble. And we don’t exactly have the time to find someone else, especially since Snape is occupied right now,” Lily told Eva, folding her arms over her chest.

“I understand. Of course, my Princess.” Eva nodded quickly.

“Good,” Lily smiled.

***

Neither Snape nor Lupin had cast a charm on the door of Snape’s office, so Lily and Eva could hear the conversation between the two men fairly well. It involved a lot of swears, and Lupin talking about how he’d always been right about _Snivellus._ Really, it was hardly a conversation and more like a lecture.

As Lupin opened the door, Eva whispered _“Imperius”_ and cast a jet of light at the man. Lupin stood and blinked, and Lily could tell that Eva was concentrating on making sure that he wouldn’t be able to fight her curse — her hand was gripping her wand tightly, but her expression was more focused than stressed.

Eventually, Lupin shrugged and made his way out of the dungeons and towards Dumbledore’s office. The two girls followed him — Eva so she could maintain the curse, and Lily so she could watch and make sure everything was going right.

“So does this mean that you’re going to be acting as Remus Lupin throughout the whole interview?” Lily whispered to Eva as they crept up the stairs to Dumbledore’s office behind Lupin.

“No, I’m just directing him to use interview strategies he knows, and _not_ to talk about anything with Snape other than saying he’ll get along fine with Snape as a coworker,” Eva instructed Lily in a peaceful tone, keeping her wand up.

Lily nodded, and kept listening to the interview between Lupin and Dumbledore.

“Remus, I suppose I have a hard question for you, about how you and our Potions master get along…” Lily could hear Dumbledore let out a small sigh, and she figured there was probably something manipulative with what he was saying. He trusted Snape, so he was going to make sure Lupin would get along with him or he wouldn’t hire him. This was something that Lily was happy about; but if she wasn’t the new Dark Princess, she would have been angry. Thank Magic that she _wasn’t_ just the Girl Who Lived anymore…

“I understand your reservations about hiring me to work along Severus, Albus, but it’s been a long time since our school days. I can respect him as a peer, and I’m aware that he’s great at what he does,” Lupin answered, and Lily saw Eva’s mouth turn up in a slight smile. _Success!_

***

Lily and Eva stayed listening to (and controlling) the interview until it came to a close, when Lily heard rustling as Albus Dumbledore spoke to Lupin in a much more informal voice.

“Remus, you’ve grown somewhat close with Miss Potter, have you not?” he asked.

“I… yes. Yes, I have,” Lupin answered.

“I hold in my hands the Invisibility Cloak that your friend James owned while he was at Hogwarts. It rightfully belongs to Lily, but I did not want to give it to her myself as we… do not really get along well. You were a friend of her father’s and she seems to like you, so I was hoping that you would give it to her.”

“Yes, of course, Albus,” Lupin answered.

“Good. Well, I suppose that we’re done now, unless you have anything else to bring up?”

Lily held her breath as Remus Lupin paused briefly, before saying, “No, Albus, nothing.”

***

As Remus Lupin left the interview, Eva hurriedly explained to Lily that because Remus had to perform a task for Dumbledore and she hadn’t anticipated having to cast the Imperius Curse for that long, she’d have to use a different spell on him to confuse him. Lily accepted the explanation, not really sure how to respond to it but figuring that Eva would do well since Snape had chosen her.

When Lupin was a little further down the hall, Eva whispered “ _Confundo”._ Lupin stopped in his tracks.

“Go, Lily. Remind him about the cloak,” Eva said, prodding Lily.

Lily blinked. She didn’t know _that_ was part of the plan. Nevertheless, she walked up to Professor Lupin.

“Mr. Lupin! Dumbledore said you had something for me?” She bounded up to him, looking every bit a cheerful first-year who _wasn’t_ concerned with things like whether the mind arts on him would break.

“Oh. Yes, Miss Potter….” Lupin blinked as he reached into his bag for the Invisibility Cloak. “Dumbledore!” he said in a choked voice, as if he’d just realized something. “I need to…”

“You told him everything, and he’s going to deal with it. He told me. It’ll be okay,” Lily put a reassuring hand on Lupin’s shoulder. “Now… what were you going to give me?”

Lupin nodded, and the anxiety and fight left his face as he handed over the Invisibility Cloak. “Of course, Miss Potter. I’m glad I could help. This cloak was your father’s when he was at school, and Dumbledore wanted me to give this to you.”

Lily clutched the cloak, smiling and doing her best not to show why. “Thank you, Mr. Lupin.”


	17. They Might Make Assumptions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lily introduces Eva Rosier to Gryffindor.

That evening, another student was added to Lily’s group in the Gryffindor Common Room in addition to Hermione, the Weasley twins and Neville. Everyone was surprised that Lily had invited a fifth-year Slytherin from a family that was considered dark to the Gryffindor common room, but nobody actually said anything against Eva’s inclusion.

Hermione was the first member of Lily’s group to say anything. “So, Rosier…do you have any advice for a new Muggleborn student?”

Neville looked at the Weasley twins, and Lily could tell that he was anxious that this new Slytherin would be a bigot. Lily really hoped she wouldn’t be, both for Hermione’s sake and for Eva’s own. If Eva was rude to one of the Dark Princess’s best friends, that would be a problem.

“Well, that really depends on what kind of advice you’re looking for,” Eva said, shifting in her seat slightly. “But overall, I’d say that it’s important to keep in mind that you have the powers you have for a reason, and you should make sure you learn how to use them properly and appreciate them. Anyone who says that you’re lesser because of being Muggleborn and that you won’t be as good at magic because of that is just wrong.”

Hermione smiled, and Lily saw the twins exchange confused looks. Lily could understand why they were confused when Neville had been treated so poorly by Draco the other day, but that was _one_ Slytherin, and certainly not a _Prefect._ A Prefect represented the best of Slytherin House, and what it valued.

“That’s an awfully enlightened view, coming from a Rosier,” Fred Weasley said under his breath.

Eva looked away from Hermione and Lily and fixed her gaze on Fred. “Is it? I’d like to think I know my own family better than you do, Weasley, and I’d say that everyone in my family believes that Muggleborn eleven year olds are just as gifted as Purebloods or Half-Bloods of the same age.”

Fred raised an eyebrow at Eva, but didn’t say anything in response. Lily felt anger burning in her veins, and wondered how Eva would respond.

Eva then turned to Hermione. “Miss Granger, if you have any more questions about the magical world, or specific sub-cultures of it such as families or organizations, feel free to ask me them. If I’m not sure on something, I’ll simply refer you to a more knowledgeable source, instead of telling you things I have not personally verified.”

“And that kind of thing is why I invited her to meet you all,” Lily declared. Still quite irritated at the Weasley twins and the rest of Gryffindor, that seemed to hate Slytherins unnecessarily, she decided to do something that might be stupid. In a few motions, she put her hand on Eva’s face and pulled the girl’s head down to her lips. Eva’s lips parted in surprise, and Lily smiled, liking the sensation of being able to shock and command people.Girls were a little nicer to kiss than boys, she thought, noticing Eva’s soft lips and smiling into the kiss.

When she released the prefect, she turned to the rest of her group with a smile. Apparently, the rest of the common room had noticed, because other Gryffindors were looking at her with shocked expressions.

“What? Can a Princess not choose the companions she desires?” Lily asked, challenging the concerned expression of Percy Weasley. “Come on Eva, Hermione. We have better places to be,” Lily stood up, offering a hand each to the two girls, and when they took them, walked up to the girls’ dorm with them.

***

“They’re going to make assumptions,” Hermione said in a shaky voice once the three girls were in the Gryffindor dormitory, sitting on Lily’s bed.

“So? Let them,” Lily shrugged, casually combing her hair with a few fingers. “You and I are only eleven after all — it would be ridiculous if they assumed we were going to have a threesome.”

Hermione turned beet red at the word “threesome”. “We - you - Eva - people do that?”

“Not typically very publicly, but I figure the Gryffindor Princess can do whatever she wants, presuming the person consents,” Eva shrugged.

“Why do you ask? Do you want to do one?” Lily winked and nudged Hermione’s foot with her own.

“What! No!” Hermione sputtered, and then looked at Eva with a slightly pleading expression. “Is… is kissing nice? It looked nice,” she admitted, chewing her lip.

“It’s nice if you do it with the right person. Somebody who cares about you, who you care about and like,” Eva told Hermione with a gentle smile.

“Like us kissing. And _not_ like Snape kissing me,” Lily burst out. That could show Hermione and Eva how much she trusted both of them, and would help them get along hopefully.

“She knows?” Hermione asked, with a slight tone of surprise. Eva raised an eyebrow, but didn’t say anything.

“Yeah, I told you I had it handled. I went to a Slytherin prefect because I figured that would be a good idea,” Lily shrugged. There; that was a reasonable explanation for why she was friends with Eva.

“Oh,” Hermione said softly, looking down at her lap. “Well… this is a little off topic but… do you want to make it so their assumptions aren’t completely incorrect?”

Lily burst out laughing, and Hermione looked at her with wide eyes, realizing what she’d just said. “Oh my God! I didn’t mean _that!_ I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to act like you should be…”

Lily cut off Hermione with a kiss, cutting off the girl’s rambling. Hermione made a small noise of surprise and happiness, and lost her balance, causing her to fall backward onto the bed and Lily to fall on top of her.

“I can… go if you would like me to,” Lily heard Eva say, a little awkward, as her scar started burning painfully.

“I’m sorry… I have to do something…” Lily scrambled up from the bed and was at the door of the common room before Hermione could cry out “Lily?”

But her scar wasn’t just _prickling._ It was _burning._ The Dark Lord was mad, and Lily thought it might be at her.


	18. Call Me Father

As much as Lily hated having to do it, she headed to Snape’s office after leaving the common room. She knew it hadn’t exactly been great to run out on Hermione like that, but she wanted to get to her father as soon as possible. Wait, would he even be her father anymore if he learned about this? She’d jeopardized the position of one of the Death Eaters at Hogwarts by talking to a Muggleborn _Gryffindor_ about what Snape had done to her. She should’ve just gone directly to Eva or another Slytherin prefect. They wouldn’t have put up with what he’d done, and that _wouldn’t_ have gotten Remus Lupin involved.

The burning of her scar had faded to a prickling, so maybe he knew she’d gotten the message. Lily walked towards the dungeons under her Invisibility Cloak. She hadn’t wanted to bring Eva with her — she had a feeling this was going to be just her and her father.

Snape sensed Lily at the door, and opened it. “He summoned me too,” he indicated, pointing to the still active Dark Mark on his forearm.

Lily’s stomach twisted. Snape wasn’t saying anything to reassure her or talk about how she was the Dark Princess, which had to mean something. Was her scar just a different version of the Dark Mark? Marking her as the Dark Lord’s property. For the first time, she was scared, remembering the satisfied look her new father had worn on his face while casting the Cruciatus at someone who had messed up.

“I will protect you from him,” Snape said as they stepped towards his Floo gate.

Lily looked over at him, biting her lip. “You… will?”

“To my dying breath,” he said solemnly. Lily gulped as he stepped in first. He thought her father might be so mad at Snape that he would _kill_ him. She was pretty sure now that the Dark Lord would be mad at her. But she knew he would be more mad if she didn’t appear when she had been summoned, so she stepped into the gate and threw the powder up.

***

They emerged in the sitting room of Malfoy Manor. The Dark Lord was sitting on the sofa directly across from the gate. When he looked at his watch, Lily panicked. Maybe she’d been so distracted by kissing Hermione that she hadn’t even noticed her scar prickling, and that had been why he’d made it so painful.

“I suppose it’s alright that you waited until Lily arrived at your office to Floo to me, Severus, but in the future, I expect you to attend me as soon as I call you. My heiress is more than capable of using a Floo network herself, and I quite suspect she would prefer to be in your presence for as little time as is reasonably possible,” Voldemort said to Snape, standing up and motioning for him to follow.

Lily felt relief wash over her when Voldemort referred to her as his heiress. At least she hadn’t messed up so badly that he didn’t even want her anymore.

Once they’d disappeared from view, Lily took off her shoes, curled up on the couch and tucked her knees to her chest. Sometimes, at the Dursleys, when they’d been mad at her, she’d tried to make herself smaller, in an effort to look sorry and like she couldn’t be the evil child they claimed she was. It hadn’t worked _very_ well, but it still felt like a safe position sometimes. And maybe if her father came in and saw her so scared, he wouldn’t want to make her even more scared of him.

The screaming coming from Voldemort’s office was good to hear, but it wasn’t as good as when he’d been punished in front of her for forcing himself upon her. Then, she’d known that the screaming had been because Snape had harmed her. This time, it was because Snape had risked his position, and Lily had helped.

She fixed her eyes on a portrait of a man that was hanging on the wall, captioned _Abraxas Malfoy._ Was it her imagination, or did he look almost _indignant_ at what was happening in his former house?

Soon, the Dark Lord and Snape emerged from the office. As they re-entered the sitting room, the portrait of Abraxas Malfoy changed its face so it was wearing a more reverent expression and looking at Lily’s father with awe. Lily looked at Snape, who didn’t look like he would be doing much protecting of her anymore, considering that Voldemort had been able to sap his energy so much in that time.

“Lily, dear, come with me,” he said, and Lily found herself following him.

***

Lily was about to sit down at the end of the table when Voldemort patted the chair on his right. Biting her lip, Lily sat down next to him. Something in the air was more noticeable now, like a part of her was trying to reach out to him.

“Are you alright?” was the first question he asked, taking a lock of her dark hair and gently placing it behind her ear.

“Am I… alright?” Lily looked at him, wide-eyed. “Of… of course I’m alright.”

She blinked up at the Dark Lord as he furrowed his brow, and she then felt magic poking at her mind. It felt like she wanted it there, so she did her best to drop her anxiety about whether he would hurt her and let him dive into her memories.

The hand still lingering on her ear stiffened while he pored through her memories. The soft pressure was soon gone, and he was once again staring into her eyes without his magic inside her mind. “He’s been reading your mind,” was his simple statement. “Reading it, and twisting his words to suit what he wants you to think.”

Lily gulped. “Yeah,”

“I don’t blame you for confiding in the Gryffindor,” he said. “Her attitude will need to be adjusted if she is to remain one of your closest confidantes, but you couldn’t have known how she would react. I’m proud of how you handled the situation, Lily,”

Lily smiled a little. “I… thank you, my Lord,” Somehow it felt appropriate to address him by his title.

“Nonsense. You can call me Father,” he responded.

Unable to control her beam, Lily squeaked out, “Thank you, Father.”

“In fact, since you did such a good job of handling this crisis, I have a more proper job for you. The Sorcerer’s Stone is currently under guard somewhere in Hogwarts, and Severus informs me that he has been told to use his Potions skills in order to help create a layer of defenses. Our theory is that many trusted teachers have been instructed to do the same,” he explained.

Lily blinked. “There was a corridor that was off limits to those who did not wish to die a most painful death…”

“Well, you’re already smarter than one of my Inner Circle Death Eaters, which is why you’re sitting in that chair. I believe that would be the place it is under guard. You will need to find students you trust to help break through the defenses. If you wish, you may recruit Severus,” he explained.

“I… I don’t want to. He tried to make me more scared of you,” Lily stuttered out.

“A behavior that certainly needs correcting. I’ll summon a House Elf — I’m sure someone will be needing to get blood out of the carpet,” He smiled, and Lily felt a shiver. How could she like the idea of making someone bleed? But the fact remained that she was the Dark Princess of Great Britain now, and she was allowed to.


	19. Erised

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lily punishes Snape and finds the Mirror of Erised.

A few moments later, Lily, her father, and one of the Malfoy’s House Elves stood in the Malfoy’s sitting room, while Severus Snape was crouched at Lily and Voldemort’s feet.

“My Lord. My Princess,” was all the disgraced Death Eater could find it in himself to mutter, but even that sounded wrong to Lily.

“You called me that the night you _raped_ me. You’re not allowed to call me that anymore unless…” Lily was going to say “unless my father makes you”, but she was interrupted by Voldemort cutting her off. “Unless you’re in pain while you say it.”

Lily looked at Voldemort with an eager smile, and he gave her a slight nod, granting her permission to cast the spell he’d told her the incantation of on Snape. She pointed her wand at him and hissed, “ _Sectumsempra,”_ in Parseltongue.

Snape’s expression was confused as she said the words, but as soon as the curse hit it changed to one of indignant horror. Jagged cuts etched their way into his skin, and his shirt started blooming with red blood.

Her father’s voice, which felt much better than _Snape’s,_ entered her mind as Snape reacted to the curse. _“This one’s especially fun because he invented it himself. Having it used on him by the daughter of his worst enemy, who is now higher up on the Dark Side than even he is… well, it’s psychological torture as well as physical.”_

Lily liked her father’s little lessons, _especially_ when they involved hurting Snape. It was twisted, but this was the most at home she’d ever felt. She could feel her magic singing to her, happy that she was getting back at someone who had tried to break her like he had.

“M - my Princess, I’m so sorry!” Snape cried out, with a voice full of pain that Lily recognized because she’d felt pain like that before, when Dudley and a bunch of his friends had beat her up because she’d stood up for a younger kid they were picking on.

“Good. You should be,” _This_ was the acceptable use of pain, Lily thought, pain that was given because _she_ demanded it.

_“When you hear your title from him, think of this moment. Not that night,”_ It was an order, perhaps magically binding, from the Dark Lord, but Lily didn’t find herself minding it. In fact, she liked the idea that he could tell her not to think of that night. She never wanted to again.

***

After Lily had cursed Snape and he was lying, completely immobile from the shock of the pain, on the floor of Malfoy Mansion, Voldemort dismissed her. She headed back to Gryffindor House under the cover of her Invisibility Cloak after using the Floo network in Snape’s office. It was late, and the castle was still and quiet.

She didn’t _want_ to head back to the Gryffindor dorms, where some people would doubtlessly be waiting up, worried about where she’d went or speculating about what she, Hermione and Eva had done. So she found herself wandering through empty corridors and peeking in doors, looking at the various magical objects inside the classrooms. She was too excited about what had happened to sleep, anyway.

Blue light spilled from one of the rooms, and Lily followed the light, coming towards an ornate mirror. Her eyes widened in shock when she realized what was reflected in it. It was her and her father, sitting on thrones, with shadowy figures in the foreground. And Hermione was there too — sitting on the throne with Lily, hand in hers.

Lily’s breath caught as she bit her lip, mad at herself for just running off on Hermione without telling her what was going on. That had been mean. And now it might be impossible for what she saw in the mirror to be a total reality, even if she would be able to sit on a throne alone.

Lily’s fist clenched, wanting to punch the mirror. Was it a mirror that was made to make her get mad at herself? That seemed like the exact kind of thing somebody would stick in a classroom that they’d send a kid to for detention. But despite the mirror making her mad, she still wanted to look at it. The happy, shy look on Hermione’s face — she didn’t know if she’d ever see that same face again, after running out on her right after kissing her for the first time. And she desperately wanted to.

Someone’s throat cleared behind her and Lily swirled around to see Albus Dumbledore. She gasped, trying to pull the Invisibility Cloak around her, but knowing it would probably be useless since he’d already seen her.

To her surprise, the old man didn’t yell. “What do you see?” he simply asked, kneeling down next to her.

Lily blinked at him, not sure how she was supposed to respond. She obviously couldn’t tell him what she _actually_ saw — that would compromise her existence as the Dark Princess — but she still didn’t even know how the mirror worked.

Her mind raced as she tried to construct the image that “The Girl Who Lived”, who wasn’t the Dark Princess, would see in a mirror that showed her what she wanted but also drove her crazy.

“My parents,” she finally settled on, after what felt like much too long. “My parents, and Remus Lupin and their other friends. They’re all standing around me, proud of me.”

“Of course. It’s natural that you would want them to be proud of you,” Dumbledore answered, nodding. “Your parents, and those they were close to. Tell me, is Severus Snape in the picture?”

Lily blinked, and her stomach twisted. What _should_ she say? “Yes,” she finally settled on. “But I know I can’t live with him. It would be weird because he’s not even really related to me. Is that what the mirror shows you? Things that are impossible?”

“Impossible… or at least, nearly impossible,” Dumbledore answered. “The Mirror of Erised shows the deepest, most desperate desire of your heart.”

Lily blinked at him, really glad that she hadn’t seen herself with _Snape._ She knew consciously that she didn’t want him, but a few weeks ago she had, enough to lead to him doing what he had to her.

“I don’t want you looking into it, Lily,” Dumbledore told her. “Men have wasted away before it, not knowing if what they have seen is real or even possible. For you… it is not.”

Lily nodded along, while being amused inside her own head. If only he knew!

“I’m glad you are connecting with Remus Lupin, however. That is a way to make your vision in the mirror closer to your reality,” he said.

Lily nodded. “Is… is there any way to bring someone back by magic?”

Dumbledore shook his head. “There is no way to do that truly. You are an orphan, Lily Potter, and you always will be. It’s best to just accept that now.”

Lily bit her lip, trying to look conflicted, when in reality she was enraged. She was _not_ an orphan, and the horrible headmaster of Hogwarts wanted to think she was and always would be. He’d rejected her request to be adopted by Severus Snape, and there was no way he would approve of Voldemort adopting her. It was too bad it wasn’t his to judge.

“I… understand,” Lily got to her feet. “I think I’ll be going back to Gryffindor Common Room now. I’m sorry.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for,” Dumbledore said as she walked out of the room. “Just remember… it does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.”

Lily nodded. But she wasn’t forgetting to live. She was living so much more than he would want her to, and she was going to get what she desired… eventually.


	20. The Responsibilities of Royalty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lily and Hermione talk about what happened the night before, and a politics discussion at the Gryffindor table ends in screaming.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Towards the end of this chapter Lily details some of her abuse experience with the Dursleys.

Lily woke up at 8am the next morning, rubbing her eyes blearily. As she sat up from her four-poster bed, she looked over at Hermione, who was sitting in her own bed, legs crossed, reading a book.

“Good morning, Lily,” Hermione said in a chilly voice.

“Good morning,” Lily bit her lip and stood up, heading to the dresser so she could put on her robes for the day. She’d grown accustomed at Hogwarts to not wearing very  _ much  _ to bed, so she was just wearing a t-shirt and underpants. Lily noted with satisfaction how Hermione snuck looks while she dressed, even though it seemed like Hermione was  _ trying  _ to be mad at her.

Lily didn’t even say goodbye to Hermione, just tossing her dark hair behind her head after brushing it and putting on her uniform. If Hermione was going to play this game, Lily could too, and she would be better at it. 

Indeed she was, which was proven when Hermione hurriedly put her book down and followed Lily out of the dormitory. She caught up with Lily fast, walking fast while Lily walked with a languid pace.

“I… did I do something wrong?” she asked, breathless, as they walked out of the common room.

“Nothing last night,” Lily shrugged, allowing her eyes to wander over the Hogwarts banister and the paintings. 

“I’m sorry for being rude this morning,” Hermione said in a small voice.

Lily turned to Hermione then for the first time, with a small smile on her face. “Good. You know I wouldn’t just walk out on you without a good reason.”

“I don’t know that, although I hoped you wouldn’t!” Hermione’s voice rose in indignation. “Nobody knew where you went. Parvati said everyone in the common room was worried, and then we ended up just going to sleep anyway.  _ I  _ was worried, and they were all asking what had happened, and I had to lie to say that you were with Professor Snape even though I didn’t even know you were!”

Lily nodded as she listened to Hermione’s rant, hair bouncing a little as she skipped down the steps. “Thank you for saying something to them to shut them up.” Of course, that had been what she suspected that either Hermione or Eva would have done, but it was good that it had been  _ Hermione.  _ It showed promise for Hermione remaining a close friend of hers, and she suspected her father would approve.

“But you don’t get it! I had to lie to them, and I was worried about you!” Hermione protested, stopping short on the stairs.

Lily spun around, facing her friend. “No, Hermione. You’re the one who doesn’t get it. I’m perfectly capable of handling myself, and I have the entirety of Gryffindor as people who would help me out of a tough situation, and frankly, most of the other teachers and professors too, being the Girl Who Lived. For your information, I wasn’t with Snape, but I still don’t wish to tell you where I  _ was.  _ You’re just going to have to trust me.”

Hermione took another step down the stairs, so she was on the same step as Lily. “I just… I worried. I worried that you’d ran out because I was a bad kisser.”

Lily laughed then - a proper laugh. “ _ That  _ was what all this is about?”

Hermione nodded, looking very small.

“Well, did you like kissing me?” Lily questioned.

Hermione nodded again.

“Well, I liked kissing you,” Lily said. “And if we both like kissing each other, we can keep on doing it.”

“So you’re not mad at me?” Hermione bit her lip.

“Not anymore, silly,” Lily smiled and put her hands on the lighter-haired girl’s shoulders, pushing her against the thick bannister. Hermione squeaked as Lily leaned forward to kiss her again, being very squirmy in a delightful way. Yes, Lily thought, kissing girls was definitely better than kissing boys.

***

When Lily walked into breakfast the next morning, she turned even more heads than usual. Perhaps it was because her hand was entwined with Hermione’s, but considering what had happened last night in the Gryffindor common room, it was probably more than that.

“Will people think that we…” Hermione whispered to Lily, trailing off before she actually finished her question.

“Kissed? Did more than that? Probably,” Lily shrugged, not particularly concerned. “It’ll only give you a good reputation as someone worthy enough to catch the attention of the Girl Who Lived…”

Lily weaved her way through the tables until she found a good seat near the center of the table, and sat down. Hermione stood awkwardly behind Lily as her eyes searched the table for an appropriate seat near her. Her eyes settled on Percy Weasley, sitting across from her. “Move.”

Percy just blinked at her in confusion.

“That was not a request.  _ Move _ .” There was a hiss in her “request” and Percy jolted up, startled. Lily smiled in satisfaction, and turned to Hermione, beckoning her to take Percy’s vacated seat.

“Are you sure it’s okay?” Hermione looked at Lily after she’d sat down.

“Well, what’s he going to do, report me to Dumbledore?” Lily scoffed. “I don’t  _ think  _ so. What would his parents think?”

“I… Lily?” A tentative voice came from behind her, and Lily turned around to see Eva Rosier, hands folded primly in front of her.

“Yes, Eva?” Lily asked.

“I’m afraid you’ve… already gotten the attention of the headmaster. Gryffindor gossips, and the gossip has spread around the school. Graham Montague was saying to a group of the upper-years that he couldn’t believe you would want to kiss a Mudblood…” Eva’s words barely contained her rage at Montague’s words. 

Lily then did jolt up, with an actual hiss in her voice. “Tell  _ Montague  _ that I wish to see him as soon as is possible for me, and that it is not his place to judge the worthiness of my associates.” 

Eva nodded in submission, greeting Hermione and waving goodbye to her Princess. 

“The Princess has teeth,” George Weasley commented, with what was a mixture of amusement and the same simmering anger that Eva Rosier had shown.

“What’s… Mudblood?” Hermione looked at Lily, a fist clenching around her spoon.

The only actual definition Lily had heard of “Mudblood” was from Snape, so she just hoped it was accurate enough. “It’s a really rude word for someone who is Muggleborn. He… thinks you’re worse because you’re not descended from witches and wizards. Well, not recently, I bet you are distantly.”

“She’s not! I don’t know where you heard that Lily, but it’s just another way for Purebloods to make exceptions to their anti-Muggleborn sentiment!” Fred Weasley chimed in, getting red in the face. “They use bogus stuff to ‘prove’ that someone isn’t really Muggleborn, so that they can decide that some of them are worthy, but only the ones who agree with them!”

“Um, agree with them about what?” Lily raised an eyebrow. “I kind of doubt that all Purebloods believe the same thing.”

“You… you know what I mean!” Fred sputtered, and continued with his rant. “Dark wizards and witches! And agree with them that Muggles are awful and Muggleborns are connecting wizardkind to an inferior race! Which, yeah, some Muggleborns believe - and I really hope you don’t believe that, Lily, just because your aunt and uncle might have been mean sometimes doesn’t mean all Muggles are horrible about magic…” 

Lily stood up again, shaking her glassware with her magic. “Weasley, my aunt and uncle were not just  _ mean.  _ As soon as I outgrew my cousin’s old crib, I was stuck in a cupboard under the stairs. I never got fed enough, and even getting fed at all depended on whether I was good enough. And they always found some way that I wasn’t, because I was a freak of nature, disgusting, something that had torn my mother away from her society when she got pregnant with some horrible Indian’s baby… Sometimes I thought I would  _ die  _ from the beatings they gave me, or that I would just kill myself so I didn’t have to go home. So no. My aunt and uncle were not just  _ mean. _ ” She threw her hand out in front of her, horrified by the Weasley’s comment on something he didn’t know anything about.

She knew something had definitely gone wrong when Fred Weasley fell from his chair in a piercing shriek and started convulsing on the ground. 


	21. Inhumane

Gasps came from around the Gryffindor table and the rest of the hall as Fred twitched on the floor. Hermione’s hands flew to her mouth and Lily looked on with confusion. How the bloody hell had she cast the Cruciatus Curse on Fred without even trying?

Eva Rosier was up from the Slytherin table in a flash, and pointed her wand at Fred. George instinctively drew his wand to protect his twin, but Eva was faster. _“Finate Incantatem,”_ she cast at Fred, and soon the Weasley was gingerly sitting up, wincing at the pain in his body.

“Thank you, Eva,” Lily said in a quiet voice.

“You jinxed him!” George cried out in anger.

“I didn’t mean to…” Lily muttered. “Besides, he was being _mean_.”

“Yeah, George. He was,” Ron spoke up, glaring at his older brother. “And ‘sides, who’s to say Hermione doesn’t have any magical heritage? If she wants to find out she should.”

“ _Thank_ you, Ronald,” Hermione had now withdrawn her hands from her face, and she was smiling at the younger Weasley. “I think I might like to, actually.”

Everything was calm at the Gryffindor table for a moment, despite the looks of admiration Lily could see on her Slytherin’s faces. Eventually, people went back to their breakfast.

Neville poked Lily with a startled expression, still not going back to breakfast. “What?” Lily asked, turning to the boy with an irritated expression.

“S - Snape,” Neville muttered, pointing towards the dark-robed professor who was headed towards the Gryffindor table.

“It’ll be fine,” Lily shrugged. “He likes me.”

“He doesn’t like me…” Neville shuddered.

Lily made a note to take care of that. Neville was decent enough, and it was ridiculous that a member of the Dark Side had already alienated a young wizard and made him scared.

Snape reached Lily, putting a hand on her shoulder. “Miss Potter, the headmaster wishes to see you.”

Lily shrugged off Snape’s hand and stood up, giving him a pointed look that only he would know the meaning of. It meant _Don’t touch me without my permission, I’m a Princess._ “Of course, Professor,” she said with a sweet smile.

***

Instead of heading to her Charms class, Lily’s first event of the day was a meeting with the headmaster. “Are you coming in with me?” Lily asked Snape. Even though she hated him, she thought that he might be able to help explain what had happened _without_ it being revealed that she knew the Cruciatus Curse.

“Considering that Professor McGonagall is Head of Gryffindor and also busy teaching, he may want me to come in and advise what sort of punishment you will receive,” Snape’s eyes glittered a bit at the word “punishment”.

Lily felt a combination of anger and power rush through her, noticing how happy the Head of Slytherin seemed at the prospect of her being punished. “Severus,” she said in a low voice, “I don’t appreciate that attitude.”

“Of course, my Princess.” Snape was quick to correct himself and fix his eyes on the corridor ahead instead of the Dark Princess. Lily could see a small amount of pain in his face, and noted with pleasure that said pain was probably her father’s curse on him enforcing its rules.

Snape whispered the password to the statues, and they opened up so that Lily could walk up the stairs.

“Miss Potter. Sit down,” Dumbledore said with a smile. “Severus, I would appreciate it if I could talk to Miss Potter alone.” Snape nodded and walked out of the office. Lily gulped. She didn’t want to have to deal with this alone.

“Miss Potter, there have been teachers coming to me with… concerns about your behavior. It was said that you kissed Eva Rosier, a fifth year Slytherin, in the middle of the Gryffindor common room last night, and then brought both Rosier and Hermione Granger up to your room for… more activities,” Dumbledore told her, clearly looking very uncomfortable. “In addition, I saw that this morning you cast the Cruciatus Curse on Fred Weasley at breakfast. Has someone been behaving inappropriately towards you, and causing you to act out in this way?”

Lily, carefully maintaining her Slytherin mask, displayed affront at the first accusation, shocked worry at the second, and confusion at his question. “With all due respect, Headmaster… the only one behaving inappropriately towards me at Hogwarts is you at this moment. I had a small crush on Eva, so I kissed her. When we went up to the dormitory, she informed me that it would be inappropriate for her to date me since I was so much younger than her. As for casting a curse on Fred Weasley… I don’t actually know what curse you’re talking about, and I was just really mad at him for minimizing my experiences with the Dursleys. I’m sorry if I did something bad!”

Dumbledore was taken aback by Lily’s response, clearly having been expecting something else. “I’m glad Miss Rosier said that to you, and I’m sorry for interrogating you. The curse that you cast on Fred Weasley was one of the Unforgivable Curses, the Cruciatus Curse, which essentially functions as a torture curse. It is illegal for wizards who are of age to perform it, so you may not perform it again once you are properly in control of your magic,” he explained.

“Illegal in all cases?” Lily asked, confused. “What about when Voldemort had been attacking my parents? Could they have defended themselves by incapacitating him with a torture curse?”

Dumbledore sighed. “The reason your parents didn’t cast that curse, Lily, is because those curses are exactly what they are called - Unforgivable. Torturing or killing another human being is inhumane, regardless of what they have done, and it is not for us to become inhumane simply because we possess the ability to do it easily.”

Dumbledore concluded his explanation, and Lily just nodded, thinking it was ridiculous that he had said that. Some people deserved pain and death. Quite honestly, Snape did, and the only reason he _wasn’t_ dead was because it was useful for a member of the Dark Side to be inside Hogwarts Castle. “I get it. I’m sorry for casting the curse.”

“It’s quite alright, Lily. The pain you’ve experienced at the hands of the Dursleys… well, it has made it so that you have quite a lot of anger stored up inside you, I’d imagine. Anger makes it easier to cast the Cruciatus Curse, although it requires a certain kind of person to sustain the curse, a kind of person that I don’t believe you are,” Dumbledore reached out a comforting hand and placed it on top of Lily’s.

“A Dark witch?” Lily asked, looking up into Dumbledore’s eyes and projecting innocence.

“Yes,” Dumbledore answered. “However, you are not a dark witch. You are the Girl Who Lived, the hope of the Light Side as a whole, and you are innocent. You will not betray wizardkind by becoming like Voldemort.”

Lily nodded. “Of course I won’t.”

Her magic disagreed.

 


	22. The Slytherin Princess

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shameless power fantasy chapter, basically. Ah well. It's a fic, that's what these are for sometimes ;)

That evening after dinner, Lily set off in a direction that was not the Gryffindor common room. Hermione caught up with her, asking why she wasn’t going to the common room.

“I am going to the common room. Well, I’m going to the Slytherin common room. You can come if you’d like to watch me tell off Graham Montague,” Lily said with a shrug, continuing to walk fast.

“You’re… invited to come to the Slytherin Common room?” Hermione asked in surprise.

“Yeah, Eva gave me a standing invitation to visit whenever and get to know everyone. And I think finding out that some jerk is spreading rumors that I’m kissing a “Mudblood” is a good enough reason,” Lily hissed the word “mudblood”, horrified at the way Graham Montague had talked about Hermione.

“Is it bad that people are spreading rumors that we kissed?” asked Hermione, all of a sudden nervous.

Lily shook her head. “I don’t mind people talking about that in particular, as long as you don’t… it’s the fact of what he called you that makes me really upset. He’s not allowed to just go around  _ saying  _ that kind of thing. Doesn’t it basically dishonor wizardkind as a whole to claim that someone is worse because of something they can’t control?”

“Yeah…” Hermione nodded, as Lily thought about what she’d said. It really  _ was _ dishonoring wizardkind to say that kind of thing. That was what was wrong, not being a Dark Witch.

***

When Eva let her in, Lily entered the common room, proudly holding Hermione’s hand. Several heads turned, and Lily felt Hermione tense up next to her. 

“Hey, Lily,” Draco said, waving at her.

Lily narrowed her eyes.  _ That  _ was how Draco was going to address her, with his history for being rude to her? It would look to Hermione like he was getting away with bad behavior, or like she’d talked to him but failed to actually get him to stop being disrespectful.

“Oh,” Draco’s eyes opened a little more in surprise, and he immediately said, “I’m sorry. Welcome, my Princess.”

Quiet curtsies and bows echoed throughout the common room, along with mutters of “Welcome, Princess.” Hermione turned to Lily with amazed eyes.

“It’s just polite. Slytherins are the most traditionalist house, and honestly, the most polite. Don’t worry,” Lily dismissed Hermione’s amazement with a wave of her hand.

Catching on, Eva walked back up to Lily. “My Princess, would you like to deal with Graham Montague now?”

Lily nodded. “Yes. His disrespect towards Hermione will not be tolerated.”

“Of course,” Eva nodded, and gestured towards two older Slytherin boys who immediately grabbed Montague by his shirt and dragged him over to Lily, on his knees.

Hermione gasped, and looked at Lily with a confused but excited expression.

“ _ Crucio!”  _ Lily shouted, pointing her wand at Graham Montague. He fell back on the floor, twitching and screaming. Lily smiled. “ _ That’s  _ what you get for being mean to the Dark Princess’s friend.”

She then turned to Hermione. “Do you want a try?”

Hermione looked, wide-eyed, at Montague. “Am I… allowed?”

“Yeah, but technically the thing I just cast is illegal if you’re a fifth year or older and get caught doing it,” Lily shrugged

Hermione’s face was angry. “But it  _ is  _ allowed to call somebody a Mudblood even when they’re perfectly good at magic?”

“Well. Yeah. The teachers will get mad, some of them, but yeah,” Lily answered.

“Well then I think I can probably break a rule, because I don’t think Montague has gotten in enough trouble for what he said,” Hermione said, with determination in her voice. She then pointed her wand at Montague and repeated Lily’s word.

The other students watched, transfixed, as Hermione’s first attempt at the Cruciatus Curse was successful. Not quite as successful as Lily’s, but that wasn’t surprising — it hadn’t been Lily’s first time, and Lily  _ was  _ the Dark Lord’s daughter. 

“You did a good job,” Genevieve Gibson, the seventh-year prefect, smiled at Hermione. “Would you like to learn more magic like that?”

Hermione looked at the figure on the ground, exhausted from the two Cruciatus Curses. “Am I… allowed to like hurting him for being mean to me?” she asked Lily, chewing her lip.

“Yes!” Lily exclaimed, wanting to curse anyone who had made her best friend think that she wasn’t allowed to hurt people who had hurt her. “Of course you are! That’s just justice!”

She wanted Hermione to be able to feel powerful even more, and she’d seen Hermione checking out Draco. “Do you want someone to play with in a  _ different  _ way?”

“What do you mean?” Hermione asked, but her blush indicated that she knew exactly what Lily meant — or at least, hoped she did.

As an answer, Lily looked at Draco, and cast ropes at him, tying him to the chair he was sitting in. “Draco, you want to make your Princess happy, don’t you?” she asked, casually.

“I… of course I do,” Draco nodded eagerly.

“Then I command you to let Hermione have her fun,” Lily said, with a smirk

Draco gulped. “Yes, My Princess,” 

“Good,” Lily smiled, and gently nudged Hermione in the direction of the very-tied-up Draco. She then grabbed Eva’s hand. 

“My Princess?” Eva asked, looking at her with slight confusion. 

Lily didn’t say anything, simply taking Eva’s face in her hands and pressing her lips to the girl’s. Eva made a happy noise in the back of her throat as Lily deepened the kiss, taking Eva’s bottom lip in between hers and biting a bit.

Lily didn’t pay much attention to what was going on between Hermione and Draco, figuring the other Slytherins would take good care of someone who was clearly under her protection. It sounded like both Draco and Hermione were having a fun time, though, as Lily heard Draco shyly say that Hermione was a good kisser. 

Lily liked today. Everyone in the room was hers, and right now it was very obvious. She was the Slytherin Princess, and nobody could take that away. Not even Snape.


	23. Undignified

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW: physical violence (towards Snape, lol) and past abuse of an autistic child

In the days following her first successful Cruciatus Curse, Lily noticed with no small amount of satisfaction that Hermione was much more confident. When the Weasley twins teased her about her supposed crush on Ron, she shot them down with a glare and a “sorry, I only have crushes on hot people”. Even Hermione looked surprised that those words had come out of her mouth, and from the other side of the table Lily laughed so hard that she choked on her pumpkin juice, and nudged Hermione’s foot.

The Slytherins had also started acknowledging Lily as important, even in public. Instead of the usual animosity they displayed towards Gryffindors, they greeted her politely and sometimes even with her title. With both the Gryffindors and the Slytherins calling her “Princess”, it wasn’t long before it stopped being surprising when a Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw did the same. 

Snape had briefly informed Lily of the details of his particular portion of the test for retrieving the Sorcerer’s Stone, but he wasn’t even making any good progress on it. Lily’s quick discussions with Snape after class soon turned into her berating him for not being more competent at the task he’d been set by the Headmaster (which was also being enforced by the Dark Lord). After enough of those days, he snapped at her, something he would regret. 

“Fine! If you’re so confident that I should be doing better at my task, why don’t you take it over?”

Lily was surprised for a moment, but not really shocked. Severus Snape had an attitude problem. She pointed her wand at his desk and vanished the stack of papers on it, and then hopped up onto the desk and grabbed the professor’s tie, pulling him down to her eye level.

“Now, that’s not quite the way you’re supposed to speak to your  _ Princess,  _ is it?” she asked with a cruel smile. 

“N-no, my Princess. I am sorry.” The professor trembled, truly aware of how much power Lily had over him now.

“Prove it. Robes off,” Lily told him. 

She relished his confusion as he obeyed her order, not quite knowing what she wanted. She certainly knew what he was  _ hoping  _ for. But he wasn’t going to get it. 

After telling him to make himself completely naked, Lily had him lie face down on the desk and make sure there were appropriate silencing charms on the door. 

“My Princess... what do you want from me?” Snape asked in confusion, his voice muffled because of his position.

“Your  _ pain,  _ Severus,” Lily smiled. In a few moments she was holding a painful-looking whip, thanks to a spell she’d seen an older Slytherin using at one point when she’d visited. 

“You are… very like your father,” Snape stated, as his eyes widened in fear. 

“Well, of course I am,” Lily said in what was almost a purr, tapping the end of the whip against her hand before she flicked her hand and slapped the end down on Snape’s back.

At first, Snape barely responded to the pain, gritting his teeth and grimacing. 

“Why do you think I asked you to put the silencing charms on the door, Severus?” Lily asked casually as she kept on whipping him.

“For the purposes of secrecy, my Princess?” Snape asked, a little confused.

“So that I can hit you as hard as I want and nobody will hear you scream,” Lily beamed, and hit Snape with her whip. “Go on, scream for me, Professor,” 

Snape didn’t scream at first, but he stopped holding back his noise. First came small whimpers, and then more proper moans. At  _ that  _ point, Lily figured he was getting far too much enjoyment out of his punishment, so she collapsed her whip and fired a Cruciatus Curse at him instead.

That was more fun, and that  _ did  _ make him scream properly. Lily stuck out a finger, swiping a tear from his face and tasting it. 

“My Princess… I’m so sorry,” When she was finally finished with her punishment, Snape was shaking on the desk, muscles tense from all of the pain. 

“Good,” Lily kissed her hand and blew a kiss at him. “Now get back to work on your test.”

***

The next time that Lily had her extra Potions lesson with Snape, she walked in with a smirk on her face as she remembered how much pain she’d been able to put her professor in, simply because she  _ could.  _ When she arrived, he was sitting at his desk, looking over papers, while Draco Malfoy sat on the couch, looking very nervous and hands shaking.

“Uh… what is going on?” Lily asked, raising an eyebrow at Snape.

“Hello, Princess,” Snape looked up from his desk, but he did not stand up and bow like Draco did. 

“Severus, you being a teacher does not make you exempt from showing proper deference to me. I  _ thought  _ we’d been over this,” Lily sighed in mock exasperation, smiling as she remembered the time she and Snape had “been over” the level of respect she demanded from junior members of the Dark Side.

“Of course, Princess,” Snape stood up and bowed to her and then sat back down, indicating Draco sitting on the couch. “I have a letter from your father here… he has told me he wishes for you to learn Legilimency and Occlumency because…”

“Because why, Severus?” Lily asked with a smirk, aware that he was hiding something in the letter from her.

“Because he does not wish for me to be able to so easily manipulate you and see into your mind anymore,” Snape hissed. 

Lily laughed. “Right. Because you didn’t want to admit that it had ever happened. Well, I think everyone here knows how you’ve mistreated me,” She gave a cursory nod at Draco. “So, Legilimency? How do I do it?”  
Snape looked like he was going to roll his eyes at her, but he stopped himself just in time. “Your father believes that you already have some inherent Legilimency skills, being his heir and also strong in magic for your age, so it’s more a matter of making your efforts more precise and focused… You’ll point your wand at Draco and say _Legilimens_ , and then if you’ve done it correctly you should be able to dive into his memories or whatever he is thinking of and see them in a way.”

“So, like mind reading?” Lily asked.

“Yes,” Snape answered. “In a way.”

With that, Lily turned away from Snape and pointed her wand at Draco.  _ “Legilimens!” _

When the spell first landed, Lily was immediately plunged into a memory of a younger Draco asking his mother about Legilimency. 

“Is it mind reading?” young Draco asked Narcissa as she was combing his hair.

“Not exactly,” Narcissa answered. “And a lot of people will look down on you if you ask that question, because they believe that mind reading is a Muggle’s pathetic estimation of Legilimency. Like Severus Snape,” She scoffed. “It’s more like jumping from association to association, and finding what you need in the person’s mind.”

_ Jumping from association to association… okay,  _ Lily thought, and focused on the image of Narcissa in the memory. In the external world, Draco winced as Lily pulled another memory forward. This time Narcissa was still touching Draco’s hair, but she was stroking it as he cried in her lap.

“Momma, he doesn’t like me,” an even younger Draco — probably about six — sobbed as his hands flapped fast. “Why doesn’t he like me?” 

“Sweetheart, he does love you,” Narcissa told Draco in the memory, but even Lily could tell that Narcissa didn’t believe what she was saying. “He just thinks you need to be more polished and befitting of an heir to the Black and Malfoy lines, that’s all.” 

“But he makes it  _ hurt! _ ” Draco whined, and Lily could see the red welts on his hands. “Why?”

Against her better judgement, Lily focused on the red welts, hoping she could figure out where they were from. She knew they were probably from Lucius Malfoy, and now she did not like the fact that her father had allowed him to participate in the punishment of Snape. 

Draco let out a cry as Lily delved into the next memory. Draco’s hands were stuck on a stove, and however hard he tried he could not get them unstuck. In the memory, Lucius Malfoy’s voice echoed as Draco cried.  _ This is what happens to boys who can’t act dignified. They learn how to through pain.  _

Lily hissed, and unwilling to see more, removed herself from the memory. She came back to real time with what felt like being slammed back into her body, and she keeled over on the floor, exhausted both magically and emotionally from what she’d done and seen. 

Draco looked up at Lily, his hands fluttering in a similar way to in the memory she’d seen with Narcissa. His eyes seemed to ask  _ Please don’t hate me. _

From behind them, Snape scoffed. Lily turned toward the desk, glaring at him. “Were you  _ watching _ ?”

“Yes, my Princess,” Snape answered.

“You probably  _ liked  _ it, you sick bastard.” Lily hissed. “And if I’d been… “undignified” … like Draco had been, and you’d raised me like you’d wanted to, you probably would have done the same thing! Wouldn’t you have!”

“Had I not been aware of who you were, yes,” Snape answered.

“And you say your worst regret is not taking better care of me,” Lily hissed, and then grabbed Draco’s hand, roughly pulling him up from the couch. “Come on, Draco, we’re going to see my dad.”

Draco gasped, and Snape raised an eyebrow, but Lily just took a pinch of Floo powder from the pot near Snape’s grate. “Malfoy Manor!”


	24. A Better Wizard

Soon, Lily and Draco arrived at Malfoy Manor. Lily immediately cast cleaning charms on herself and fixed her hair, not wanting to see her father without at least looking  _ decent.  _

She knew Malfoy Manor well enough by now, so she instructed Draco to wait in the living room while she went to her father’s office. That was when she finally let herself confront the emotions that were rapidly cycling through her head. A Death Eater, one her father trusted and one he put in a high position — one he even honored by living in the manor of! — had been horrible to his son, in a way that Snape had told her he would have been horrible to her in a different situation! She didn’t quite know what was “wrong” with Draco and his hands, but it didn’t seem that bad. Especially for a kid or someone who was upset!

She opened the door of her father’s office, and entered.

“Lily?” The Dark Lord looked up at her in confusion. 

“Did you know?!” she asked. 

Her father blinked at her for a moment before processing her question. “No. I did not.”

Lily slumped down on the chair across from her father, looking at him with a dejected expression. “What are you going to do about it?”

The Dark Lord leaned back in his chair, looking at Lily with a curious expression. Lily didn’t know what that expression meant. It didn’t look  _ angry,  _ like her Muggles or Snape had been when she’d messed up, but it didn’t look  _ good. _

“Well, I’ll handle what you’re referring to, but I also have to handle something else,” He’d slipped into a voice that sounded more like calculated calmness than actual, and Lily flinched. As she realized how rudely she’d confronted him and demanded what she had from him, hot shame rushed through her body. 

“I’m sorry, my Lord,” she said in a quiet voice, maintaining eye contact with him despite not really  _ wanting  _ to.

“The title isn’t necessary, but I’m glad you recognize the gravity of this situation,” her father continued in the same calculatedly cool voice. “I would never have thought that my heiress would be such a Gryffindor.” 

Lily bit her lip, remembering all the disdainful ways members of Slytherin House and the Dark Side had talked about the more  _ unfavorable  _ members of Gryffindor when she was present, knowing she would agree. That they were impulsive, didn’t care at all about the established hierarchy of anything, and assumed that what  _ should  _ happen according to their morals was what everyone would work towards regardless of what they even cared about. Now that Lily thought about how she’d acted towards her father, that  _ had  _ been pretty much what she’d done. 

“I’m sorry, Father,” she said, apologizing again without the title this time. 

“The only thing you have the right to demand from me is a safe home and appropriate treatment as a child of Magic and  _ my  _ heiress,” he continued, his hands laid flat on the desk. “I do, however, recognize that you are particularly upset by this, and I will do what is reasonable to fix the situation. What in particular upset you about the memories you saw from Malfoy?”

It was Lily’s turn to blink at him in confusion a bit. “The… reason Lucius hurt him so much?” She didn’t understand why her answer would have been anything else. “He was  _ five!  _ He got his hands stuck to the oven for… fidgeting? Doing a thing that is pretty normal for a kid to do?”

The Dark Lord nodded, and Lily was relieved to note that he seemed less disappointed in her now. 

“What did you think my reaction would be… if that’s okay to ask?” Lily asked, jittering in her seat a bit.

“I didn’t  _ think  _ you would react any particular way. I  _ hoped  _ you would react the way you had, because that would mean you would be in less need of teaching of the way things work on the Dark Side. You could have assumed that it was blatantly unacceptable for a parent to ever cause pain to their child, or something like that,” He shrugged.

Lily shook her head, confused. She’d seen enough mild (and even more extreme) pain at Hogwarts that she could see why it could  _ ever  _ be important. Besides, her father had said she had the right to demand appropriate treatment, and she doubted that he would treat her like the  _ Dursleys  _ had in terms of pain.

“I’m glad you reacted in the sensible way,” the Dark Lord said, and Lily almost thought it looked like a  _ kind  _ smile. “Now, let’s deal with the Malfoys.”

***

Her father had instructed her on how they had to present as a united front, regardless of what was going on between of them, so Lily walked out of the office with him while doing her best to compartmentalize the fact that she’d only been  _ lectured _ , and some other sort of trouble might be coming.

She’d noticed her father focus his magic for the purposes of summoning Lucius Malfoy, telling her with a cruel smile that the summoning would hurt especially today. It always did a little bit, but he was able to make it burn more than sting.

Draco was acting very professional and  _ appropriate  _ around Lily and the Dark Lord, but when Lily sat down next to him and squeezed his hand, he looked at her with a grateful smile. 

“It has come to light, Malfoy, that you have behaved inappropriately with a child of Magic,” the Dark Lord said, as Lucius Malfoy kneeled in front of him and Lily. “What justification do you have for your actions?”

To Lily, he said inside her mind,  _ Legilimens him. See what his excuse is. _

Lily wasn’t sure if she’d have enough magic for that. Was that his plan? Embarrass her in front of one of his Death Eaters? “ _ Legilimens,” _ she said, pointing her wand at Lucius Malfoy with a slightly shaky hand. 

Somewhat to her surprise, the spell worked — possibly because of her father’s hand on her shoulder, providing a way for her magic to feel comfortable. She looked into Malfoy’s mind, and saw a memory of a young Draco, yelling and squirming in the middle of some part of London that definitely also had Muggles in it. 

“Does he have autism?” a Muggle woman asked, looking at Lucius with what Lily supposed was intended to be sympathy for Lucius but not for Draco. “My nephew’s high-functioning, and even he acts like that sometimes… I feel so bad for my sister.”

Lucius’s response was a stony glare as he grabbed Draco’s squirming body and glared at his son. Lily could tell he cast several spells, because young Draco quieted and stopped squirming, although his face did not look happy.

“The judgement of a  _ Muggle  _ was what caused you to abuse your young child?” the Dark Lord hissed, and pointed his wand at Lucius, casting  _ Sectumsempra.  _

Lily looked at her father, asking for approval nonverbally. He nodded. “ _ Crucio,”  _ Lily added internal pain to the blood coming from Malfoy’s body. 

When both of the curses faded, and Lucius Malfoy looked up at the Dark Royals in dazed confusion, Lily smiled. “Your son is a better wizard than you ever will be, in so many ways,” she told him, walking over to Draco. She sat down and pulled his face towards hers, kissing him.

She was still sensitive to other people’s emotions thanks to having cast the Legilimens spell recently, so she could sense her father’s amusement and Lucius’s outrage. Good.


	25. Resiliency

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lily's punishment for her infraction, and the aftereffects.

After Lucius’s punishment had concluded, the Dark Lord dismissed him, along with Draco and Snape, who were instructed to head back to Hogwarts. As for Lily, he crooked a finger, indicating that he wished for her to follow him, and they headed back into the office.

Lily could tell that he was still not exactly happy with her. “I hope my conduct was appropriate, Father,” she said once she had sat down across from him.

“Yes, your conduct was entirely reasonable regarding the Lucius situation,” he answered her. 

Lily sat with her hands folded in her lap, not exactly sure what she was supposed to say. She knew there was zero chance that if there was going to be a punishment for her infraction, her father had forgotten it. Was she supposed to  _ ask  _ for her punishment?

“As for your punishment,” Lily’s father broke the silence, relieving her. “I do not make a policy of causing people I care for unnecessary pain, however your magical education prior to Hogwarts has been severely lacking. As a child of Magic and a student of the Old Ways, it would be expected that you begin Resiliency Training at eight at the very latest, and hoped that you would be able to withstand the Unforgivables except the Killing Curse by age eleven. You are magically strong, Lily, but you are not trained. You are inexperienced, and you do not have the right to directly confront me in the manner that you did earlier.”

Lily gulped. Withstanding the Imperius Curse and the Cruciatus Curse by age eleven? Maybe the pain that Lucius Malfoy had given Draco wasn’t so bad after all.

“Since your actions showed that you believe you are an experienced authority on magic, an appropriate “punishment” —” he made air quotes — “would be to teach you the more painful lessons to improve your experience. Thus, we will be starting Resiliency Training today.” 

Lily bit her lip and nodded, but before she could say anything she was hit with a curse. Her body felt like it was being overheated with prickly tendrils of magic, but she just took a breath and continued breathing in and out normally, focusing on feeling her magic and a sense of calm. 

She wasn’t sure how long she stayed there, focusing on her breathing, but eventually the uncomfortable heat was gone and she stretched her arms, realizing they had been very tense.

“Impressive,” Her father looked at her as he pocketed his wand, and Lily raised her chin to meet his gaze. “I would have estimated that you’d last five minutes before the monitoring charms flagged something, but you lasted ten.”

“I’m glad I performed well, Father,” Lily said, smiling a little. “Does that mean we will be continuing with the training tonight?” She knew what the Dursleys were like — being good at something would mean that expectations were raised to an almost impossible level, and those expectations were expected every day.

“No, that’s all for tonight,” he informed her. “If the residual effects of the curse still bother you to a level that it is interfering with your school work tomorrow night, you may request a potion from Professor Snape to heal you. Otherwise, you will not be taking any treatments for the pain.” 

Lily nodded. It was clear this was part of the punishment. She couldn’t say she didn’t deserve it.

“Unless you have more questions for me or something else to discuss, you are free to go,” he informed her. 

“I have nothing else to discuss, Father,” Lily answered, and with a wave of his hand she stood up, bracing herself a little on the chair.

***

Lily managed to keep herself together as she Floo’d back to Hogwarts and walked back to the dormitories, but once she was back inside, she collapsed on her bed, exhausted. Once she was still, her body didn’t seem to want to stay that way. It felt like there were a million involuntary twitches going on at once, and Lily couldn’t help but wonder  _ if this is the punishment for what I did, what would a worse punishment be like?  _

Eventually, tiredness overtook her, despite the twitching of her body. She didn’t sleep well, waking up in the middle of the night crying with pain. 

Hermione heard Lily cry out in pain, and sat up in bed, concerned for her friend. “Lily?” she asked, putting out a tentative hand towards the bed next to hers. 

Lily forced her body to sit up, and turned her head towards Hermione. “Yes?”

“What’s wrong?” Hermione asked her.

“Professor Snape. Weird potion,” Lily forced out, thinking that it was the explanation that Hermione was most likely to accept. 

“He’s making you drink potions in your lessons?” Hermione demanded in horror.

“He said it was an option. To teach me better. Resiliency. Since I need to fight the Dark Lord and all,” Lily answered. 

“Lily, you don’t need to be so masochistic,” Hermione sat down next to Lily on the bed, holding her hand. “That man… I think he just wants to hurt you. I wouldn’t take any potions he offers you, if I were you. I thought you said everything was sorted with him!”

“I thought so too,” Lily muttered. 

“Besides, you’re  _ eleven!  _ You don’t need to prepare so much for facing the Dark Lord yet!” Hermione ran a few fingers through Lily’s hair. “Hogwarts is safe.”

“Hermione, do I need to remind you that he tried to kill me when I was a baby? I don’t think he cares that I’m eleven,” Lily snorted. Her father certainly didn’t care that she was eleven, with the amount of pain he was putting her in…

“Okay, fine,” Hermione laughed. “But Dumbledore will protect you, yeah?”

“I don’t want to have to rely on somebody else for protection,” Lily mumbled. This was true. The Dursleys had claimed they were protecting her by taking her in, but they had done anything but. Snape had claimed he was helping her, and he’d  _ raped  _ her. Her new father had claimed he was doing something good for her, and instead she was in horrible pain and couldn’t sleep. 

“Well, get used to me caring. Because I’m here.” Hermione leaned over and captured Lily’s lips with hers. Lily smiled into the kiss. So maybe some people were nice.

_ Thwack!  _ Unfortunately, Lily’s limbs hadn’t gotten the memo that she was comfortable. Her leg twitched again, this time kneeing Hermione in the groin.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry,” Lily laughed. 

“It’s okay,” Hermione laughed too, and just put an arm around Lily. “Maybe your legs should not be so near that area…”

Chuckling, Lily stretched out her legs so they were  _ not  _ directly facing Hermione in that way. 

“Is it cool if I stay here tonight? I’m worried about you,” Hermione muttered into Lily’s ear.

“Sure,” Lily said, smiling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like surprising people, so don't take this chapter at face value...


	26. Punishment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The day after Lily's punishment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning for large amounts of ableism in this chapter, including the c-slur. Read at your discretion.

When Lily woke up the next morning, she was still shaking and twitching. Hermione stood next to her bed, holding something that looked vaguely similar to Lucius Malfoy’s walking stick.

“What’s that for?” Lily asked, blinking up at her friend.

“It’s for you,” Hermione answered. As Lily’s eyes adjusted to the light, she noticed that the mysterious item had been decorated with the Hogwarts crest and a crown pattern. “It's a cane. I don't think you're going to have a great time walking today, unless you have suddenly mysteriously gotten better…”

“I haven't…” Lily admitted, blushing a little. 

“Get up and try it out, then,” Hermione stuck a hand out, and Lily grabbed it and stood up, trembling on her feet a bit. Yeah, she needed support, apparently. But she  _ wished  _ she could just hold onto Hermione’s hand the whole day instead of this… Muggle thing. 

“Why are you helping me? I don't need help,” Lily asked as she grabbed onto the cane and almost fell, demonstrating that she definitely did need help. 

“Stubborn Princess,” Hermione laughed, kissing Lily’s cheek. “Yeah, you do need help.”

“Well, I shouldn't,” Lily protested as she walked to the door of the girl's dorm, holding on to the cane with one hand and Hermione with the other. Her muscles felt like they were screaming, and she made a mental note to never get in trouble with her new father again. He clearly  _ really  _ didn't like it when she acted like a Gryffindor, which was awkward because she had been sorted into Gryffindor!

Everyone was used to seeing Lily holding Hermione’s hand, but they weren't used to what was in her other hand. Fred Weasley walked up to her and stuck a hand on her cane, attempting to help her. This just caused Lily to lose her balance and almost collapse against Hermione. 

“We’re doing fine,  _ thank you very much. _ ” Hermione said, giving the older boy a death glare. 

“I'm sorry…” Fred said, backing up with his hands high in the air. 

“Apologize to your Princess,” Hermione instructed him, with the death glare still on her face. 

“I'm sorry, my Princess,” Fred said, bowing his head slightly towards Lily. 

“Fine. Now leave my presence.” Lily snapped. She didn't know what seemed so rude about Fred touching her cane and trying to help, but it really rubbed her the wrong way. 

Fred nodded, and walked away in shame, and Lily and Hermione walked to their seats at the Gryffindor table. Lily smiled as she sat down at her seat, glad that nobody was telling her she shouldn’t sit down there because of the cane.

***

Later that day, it was time for the Slytherin and Gryffindor Potions class. Lily walked to it anxiously, holding Hermione’s hand tightly in one hand and the cane in the other. The instant he saw her, Draco’s eyes went huge and his face paled.

“Am I going to need to lecture a snake this time?” Hermione laughed.

“I don’t think so,” Lily said. “Would you mind if I talked to him alone for a moment?”

“Um, sure,” Hermione shrugged, and Lily walked over to the table that Draco was sitting at alone, and sat down next to him.

“Is this because of how you asked for my father to be punished?” Draco asked, looking at Lily with horrified eyes.

“No,” Lily answered. She was fairly certain her wanting Lucius to be punished had actually been a course of action the Dark Lord had agreed with, and it had been merely the way she had approached the situation that had caused the problem. “But even if it was going to cause this, I would have still done it.”

Draco’s eyes widened. “You wouldn’t have needed to do that. I would’ve completely understood if you went for self-preservation -”

“What’s the point of power if you don’t use it to help vulnerable people?” Lily asked, blinking at her friend.

“That’s… well… let’s just say I can see why you’re a Gryffindor, my Princess,” Draco said with a chuckle.

Lily smiled at Draco, choosing to take what he had said as a compliment, but she was really anxious underneath. What if that kind of attitude was another Gryffindor trait that her father would see fit to correct in the future?

A few minutes later, Snape swept into the classroom, and as soon as he entered, his eyes landed on Lily’s cane. “I see the Girl who Lived has been turned into a cripple. Gryffindors are so impulsive…”

Lily did her best to not react to Snape’s horrible comment, controlling her heartbeat and her breathing like she had the night before during Resiliency Training. She didn’t dignify the comment with a response, instead deciding to stare straight ahead as she contemplated what she would do to Snape if they were alone. Her fantasizing was cut off short by her anxiety that maybe this comment had been authorized - or even encouraged - by her father. He definitely knew that she had impulsively dragged Draco to Malfoy Manor, and she hated that he could see right through her. Underneath everything, maybe she didn’t even deserve to be a Slytherin Princess. 

“He shouldn’t be saying that,” Draco whispered, grabbing Lily’s hand. “I bet you can punish him later.”

“Hope so,” Lily whispered back, holding back a tear.

***

That evening, when Lily was attempting to do her homework, the pain was still bothering her and her legs were still jumping. She kept on trying to ignore the pain and the spasming of her muscles, not wanting to admit defeat. A Slytherin princess wouldn’t come crawling to the same person who had called her a cripple, begging for a potion to fix her.

She was so focused on blocking out the pain that she barely noticed that her scar was hurting until it got so painful that it felt like it was burning up her head.  _ Alright, Father, I’m coming  _ She didn’t know if telling him via her thoughts that she was coming would help, but it seemed to, because when she grabbed the cane and stood up, the pain subsided.

She rushed to Snape’s office, and barely paid any attention to the Potions master, not even saying a word other than “Malfoy Manor!” as she threw the Floo powder.

She arrived at Malfoy Manor and dusted herself off, heading to her father’s office with her heart pounding in her chest. What had she done wrong now?

She raised a hand to knock on the door, and after one knock heard a “Come in”. 

Lily walked into the office, trying to make herself appear as small and unnoticeable as possible. Her father’s eyes immediately looked at her in concern, noticing the paleness on her face and the cane in her hand.

“Lily, what happened?” he demanded.

She blinked at him. “The… spell from last night?” Oh great. Maybe she was broken. She wasn’t  _ supposed  _ to be hurting this much, that was evident.

He used magic to push Lily into a chair without her actually having to move herself, which was really nice, and immediately stood up and walked over to her, performing diagnostic spells on her. She looked up at him as he did the spells, trying not to cry about how broken she felt.

“There appears to be a problem with the way your muscles reacted to the spell. Trust me, Lily, I did not intend it to be this bad,” he said in a soft voice. Lily looked up at him, feeling his magic surrounding her, and knew he didn’t.

“I’m sorry, Father,” she whispered, one word repeating inside her head.  _ Broken. Broken. Broken. _

“It’s not your fault,” He bent down to kiss her forehead, and then used his thumb to remove one tear that was running down her cheek. That kind gesture was enough for Lily to completely break, collapsing in his arms as her muscles trembled. 

He must’ve nonverbally cast something, because the tremors stopped and the pain was suddenly gone. She looked up at him, tears drying on her face.

“You’re not broken, but I would hazard a guess that you don’t like what your muscles did today, and it is somewhat inconvenient, so I’ll set my best Healers on researching how to fix it.” He smiled at her.

“You’d do that for me?” she asked with a sad smile. “Even after I was so rude?”

“Of course,” He told her. “As far as I’m concerned, it’s forgotten. You clearly regret your actions, and you’ve served your punishment - and then some. I love you, Lily. You’re my  _ daughter. _ ”

“Was part of the punishment Snape calling me a cripple?” Lily asked, as her father hugged her.

“What? No.” He pulled away, looking in her eyes. “He’s in trouble now, dear. However much trouble you want. Well, except for death or permanent harm that would mean he could not serve the Dark Side.”

Lily felt a smile grow on her face. “I think I have a few ideas.”

“That’s my brilliant girl,” Her father smiled, kissing her cheek.

 


	27. Potions Can Do Anything?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lily delivers (another) punishment to an errant Potions Master, and handles some confusion from Gryffindors.

The day after her meeting with the Dark Lord, Lily neglected to tell Professor Snape that she was attending Slytherin House-only Potions class on purpose. Her father had given her medicine to help with her muscle problem, but he’d informed her that it was just a temporary solution and she would still react to the curse he’d cast on her in the same way - which was why he had his best Healer working around the clock to fix what was wrong.

So maybe she was a cripple, but she was a princess. And that meant that no one was allowed to call her that horrible word.

Lily adjusted the sunglasses on her face and tossed her hair over her shoulder. She stood leaning against the door to the Potions classroom in a ridiculously short version of her uniform and high heels, waiting for the perfect time to make her grand entrance. 

She let a smirk spread across her face as Draco, her pretty boy, asked a question in a timid voice, about whether all magical injuries had a corresponding magical solution or if some of them hadn’t been researched enough yet. 

“No, Malfoy. They don’t all have solutions. Magic has limits, although those limits are being stretched further every day,” Snape answered.

“I thought you said potions could do anything on the first day!” Draco protested in a confused tone. Lily smiled as she put her hand on the handle of the door. Her pretty boy was being a good doll.

“Not quite. It was for dramatic effect. Surely you can understand that I would not believe that all first year students would care about potions if I introduced it as being able to do anything that had already been developed, Malfoy,” Snape drawled on in a flat voice as Lily opened the door and walked into the classroom. 

“My Princess?” Snape asked, eyes quickly going up Lily’s legs and to her face. “I wasn’t aware you would be attending this class.”

“I’m not really,” Lily shrugged, and stuck her wand out. “ _ Stupefy tertius decimus.”  _

Snape’s eyes widened in shock, and he was horrified, but knew better than to dodge a curse from his Dark Princess, as that would make his punishment from the devious girl worse. 

“The next time you insult your Dark Princess for something she can’t control, bear in mind that she  _ can  _ control quite a lot,” Lily said with a smile, stalking over and sticking her heel right on Snape’s face and grinding it down. “I hold your pain and your state of being in my hands, Severus.”

“I’m so sorry, my Princess,” Snape whimpered, sobbing.

“Sorry’s not enough,” Lily hissed, and then turned around to face the rest of the class. “Let this be a lesson to the rest of you, do  _ not  _ upset me. Bad things happen.” She then walked over to Draco and reached a hand out to tenderly take his face in it and kiss his cheek. “And Draco, you were a very good boy. Your loyalty will be rewarded.”

Lily could feel Draco’s magic sparking towards her, reaching out, as she let go of his face. Something else was probably also moving unintentionally. The Malfoy boy was blushing, but she knew he loved it anyway.

Lily then turned her attention to Snape, who was collapsed on the floor, barely moving. She smirked, glad that her curse had landed correctly. The curse, if not healed fast (and it wouldn’t be; Lily had seen to that) created a situation where the victim’s muscles were “stuck” for a few weeks. It became exponentially harder for them to be moved, and forced the victim to rely on other people or (horror of horrors!) mobility aids to get around. Thus, it was the perfect curse for an ableist asshole.

“Class dismissed,” Lily said with a beaming smile at her Slytherin classmates. “It appears that our dear Potions Master will just have to tell anyone who asks for the next few weeks that one of the potions he was testing went very wrong.”

***

The next morning, a letter bearing the Malfoy seal made its way to the Gryffindor breakfast table. Ron looked at it in confusion. “Why is a bloody  _ Malfoy  _ sending you mail?”

“I dunno, probably Narcissa Malfoy thanking me for being one of Draco’s few friends at school or something like that,” Lily shrugged and pocketed the letter. “I’ll read it later.”

Ron laughed out loud at that, but Hermione just looked confused. After Ron laughed, he looked at Lily with confusion. “Why do you know her name?”

“Uh… because Draco mentioned it?” Lily gave Ron a  _ of course  _ expression.

“You’re friends with Malfoy?” Neville Longbottom asked tentatively.

“Nah, more like I’ve just talked to him a few times. Mostly arguing,” Lily laughed.

Being publicly friends with both Slytherins and Gryffindors was going to be awkward, Lily thought. She’d have to figure out something to do about this soon, especially if her father was going to be sending her letters branded with the Malfoy seal due to living with them.

This turned out to be an  _ actual  _ issue when breakfast was over, and Hermione and Lily walked to History of Magic. “I’m a little confused,” Hermione admitted, talking in a low voice with Lily. “Why do they not know about your interactions with the Slytherins, but I do?”

“Because you’re special, duh,” Lily reached out and squeezed Hermione’s hand. 

Lily saw Hermione blush, but she still pressed on. “But really, Princess, why?”

Lily sighed. “You’re special  _ because  _ you’re not as bigoted against Slytherins as most other Gryffindors are. You come from a Muggle family, and you actually do your research and talk to all kinds of people, which are two reasons that I felt comfortable telling you about being close with some of them. For example - most people would be pissed about someone of unknown family heritage having a blood test to see who in the Wizarding World they were closest related to. Like Dumbledore. But I don’t think you would be.”

Hermione looked at Lily with big eyes after she’d said that. “That’s a thing that can be done?”

The two girls sat down in History of Magic Class as Lily nodded. “Yeah. You might actually have wizarding heritage. I could help you find out, if you’d like. Coincidentally, that’s actually the “bogus test” that Weasley Twin Whatshisname was yelling at me about a while ago.” 

Hermione giggled at the derogatory nickname for the redhead. “Fred, I think it was. Anyway, that would be great. When can I have it done?”

“Not positive. I can ask Narcissa about it in my letter back,” Lily said with a smile. That had worked out better than she had expected. 


	28. The Sacred Twenty-Eight

That night, after everyone else was asleep in the Gryffindor common room, Lily actually opened the letter with the Malfoy seal. Unsurprisingly, it did turn out to be from her father. She adjusted the lamp she was holding and shined it on the paper. 

_ Dear Lily, _

_ Congratulations on your punishment of Severus. He certainly deserved it, and I’m glad you’re recognizing how amazing you are.  _

_ This letter is also to remind you of the task I set you to find the Sorcerer’s Stone. I am aware that Severus was reluctant to tell you about his portion of the test, and have sharply instructed him to be forthcoming with his Princess. He is not your only resource, however. You have the entirety of Slytherin House at your disposal, and perhaps even certain Gryffindors. I’ve heard they’ve been calling you Princess… _

_ With love, V.  _ _ Slytherin _

Lily set the letter down, and a few seconds after she did so, it seemed to spontaneously ignite, burning and curling up and eventually disappearing into nothing. Lily sighed, wishing that this didn’t have to be the case with every single piece of communication from her father - that it would have to be charmed, or even to destroy itself so that she couldn’t keep it. She wanted to be able to be proud of who she was and who she was a daughter of, and to be able to carry herself with the knowledge that she was a Princess of the Dark Side, and to be recognized as the princess of the wizarding world by not just the Slytherins, but everyone. Maybe it was vain and selfish, but she just wanted to be seen as who she was. But the reminder that she had the entirety of Slytherin House at her disposal was nice.

Lily wasn’t tired at all. She wanted to  _ do  _ something. And that certainly wasn’t going to be going off to find the Sorcerer’s Stone without any knowledge of what she was doing or what she was going to be facing. Maybe…

She stood up and walked one bed over, to Hermione’s bed, and climbed on top of her Hermione with very little hesitation. Hermione squeaked, and blinked up at Lily in confusion. “Lily?”

“I’m bored. Come with me,” Lily instructed Hermione. She definitely knew that Hermione was  _ hers,  _ but what she didn’t know was how. She knew she liked Hermione and liked kissing her, but committing to the word of “girlfriend” sounded terrifying. And for now it didn’t matter anyway, because she was the Princess of Gryffindor and Hermione would stay hers even if she wasn’t her girlfriend.

“Um… Where?” Hermione blinked up at Lily as Lily got off the bed and extended a hand to her. 

“Well, you wanted to have that blood test, right?” Lily asked.

“Um. Sure,” Hermione reached out to Lily, letting Lily pull her out of bed. “This late?”

“It’s only 9pm…” Lily said, indicating the clock on the wall.

“Oh. Okay,” Hermione blushed, and turned to Lily. “So how do we do that? I’m guessing we don’t walk up to Dumbledore’s office and ask him for it?”

“Well, first of all, we need this,” Lily said with a wink, grabbing the Invisibility Cloak from her bed. 

Hermione shook herself awake. “Are you sure about this, Lily? It sounds like you’re planning on sneaking out.”

Lily smiled, and gave Hermione a quick kiss on the cheek. “Of course I’m sure about this. I have Professor Snape wrapped around my finger, after I made sure that Dumbledore wouldn’t find out about what he did. He owes me, and in my terms, that means letting me use his Floo network whenever.”

“Irresponsible,” Hermione said, shaking her head in anger.

“Yep, he most definitely is. But it’s helpful for me,” Lily winked again, and dragged Hermione out of the dorm and into the common room. She wasn’t even going to acknowledge the possibility that Hermione had been calling  _ her _ irresponsible - it didn’t seem like that was what had happened. 

There were still plenty of upper-year students milling about in the common room, so Lily was glad that she and Hermione had the Invisibility Cloak. 

“Will Snape know that I’m coming in the Floo gate too? I don’t see how he could not…” Hermione asked Lily, chewing on an end of her hair.

“Yep. And it will piss him off so much,” Lily said with a gleeful grin. “A “mudblood” using his magical artifact! The horror!” 

Hermione nodded with a small smile, and she and Lily walked to Snape’s office, not talking much. When they arrived, Lily took the invisibility cloak off herself and knocked on Snape’s door. He let her in with a not particularly pleasant expression, and Lily noticed with pleasure that he’d gotten himself a cane. A really ugly one - it was all gnarled, and not even made out of a pretty wood.

Hermione followed Lily through the door, still under the Cloak, and unveiled herself when the door was shut and they were all firmly in the office. Snape’s expression turned even darker when he saw Hermione’s face. 

“What do you want today, Princess Lily?” Snape asked, voice thick with sarcasm.

“We need to use your Floo network to go to Malfoy Manor,” Lily answered him.

Snape raised an eyebrow, but waved Lily and Hermione towards the gate.

“Wow, he really is wrapped around your finger,” Hermione whispered to Lily, grinning.

“She’s a beautiful, talented witch. How could I not be?” Snape asked, overhearing what Hermione had said - or maybe using Legilimency. 

Hermione looked like she was about to hex Snape, but Lily ushered her through the gate. Lily was also pretty disgusted by what Snape had said in front of Hermione - probably perceiving Hermione as his “competition”. There was no competition. He was gross, and Hermione wasn’t.

When they arrived at Malfoy Manor, Hermione turned to Lily. “Why do you put up with him saying those kinds of things?”

“I don’t care,” Lily lied with a shrug. “He provides useful resources, like the ability to sneak out of Hogwarts, so I put up with it.” Lily realized that what she and Hermione were talking about was basically a microcosm of why she put up with Snape. She only put up with him because he provided her with resources as a Dark-aligned teacher at Hogwarts. Being the Dark Princess was definitely harder in some ways than being the Girl who Lived.

“And he… he called me a Mudblood?” Hermione asked, holding Lily’s hand tightly.

Lily nodded. “Once. Once in conversation, when he was mad about you contacting Lupin. He’s horrible. I’m sorry.”

“It’s… it’s less that and more that a teacher at Hogwarts, a school that is supposed to be welcoming to all magical children… does the same horrible thing that Graham Montague does,” Hermione sighed. “But I guess you’re worse off than I am, in terms of what he does to you.”

Lily wanted to argue, but decided not to. It wouldn’t work out without revealing that she was the Dark Princess, anyway. 

“Hello?” Narcissa Malfoy asked, rounding the corner. “Who’s there?”

Lily waved at her, and Hermione looked stiff, but said, “Hello, Mrs. Malfoy. I’m Hermione Granger. A friend of Lily’s.”

“Oh!” Narcissa walked over to the two girls. “Good evening, my Princess. And good evening, Hermione! Lily mentioned you to me, a while ago.”

“She’s here for the test,” Lily said. “To find out who she’s descended from.”

“Oh!” Narcissa said with a beam. “Follow me, then, Miss Granger. You can come too, of course, Lily.”

_ Please do?  _ Hermione mouthed to Lily, and Lily nodded and followed them. She noticed that Narcissa had changed from calling Hermione simply by her name to calling her “Miss Granger”, which definitely denoted more respect as well as formality. She wasn’t sure how she felt about that. Hermione should’ve been given respect immediately, as a guest of Lily’s. And the only reason Hermione was actually able to research her heritage was that Lily had told her about the process. How the hell were other Muggleborns supposed to find out about that, without a person who knew about it reaching out to them? Somehow she doubted not many members of the Dark Side would, what with Graham Montague’s decision to call Hermione a Mudblood and the fact that he was the son of a Death Eater. 

The girls followed Narcissa into another room of the mansion, where Narcissa set out a contraption similar to the one that Lily had been tested with, although it had many more little wells. 

“Nearly all Muggleborns have some connection to the Sacred Twenty-Eight, which are twenty-eight wizarding families that were believed to still be pure-blood in the 1930s,” Narcissa explained as she poured small amounts of blood from vials into the wells. “Another reason we test for these is that they are the families that are most likely to have disowned Squibs and not kept records on the descendants of the Squibs in their family. You could very well be a descendant of a disowned Squib, who the gift of magic has reappeared in.”

Narcissa then reached out for Hermione’s blood, and took a quick prick. Hermione winced, but didn’t say anything. 

Narcissa deposited the blood in the top well, and little trails of it trickled down to the Black family first, then the Bulstrode family and the Flint family. 

“Well, that answers that question,” Narcissa said with a smile, casting a cleaning charm on the board. “You appear to be a descendant of Marius Black, who was actually a disowned member of the Black family - my family. He’d be your great-grandfather, meaning that you’re the first Child of Magic in four generations and my second cousin once removed. Congratulations, Cousin,” Narcissa clasped Hermione’s hands with a warm smile on her face. “If you’d like to meet another member of our family, she’s actually in this house now, in her room. Would you like to?”

Hermione nodded eagerly. “That would be great.”

“Wonderful,” Narcissa said with a smile, and the three walked to the room of the mystery Black relative. Narcissa knocked on the door. “It’s Narcissa. I’m with the Princess and one of her friends,”

The door swung open, cleary by magic, and a dark haired woman looked up from a book. 

“Hello, Narcissa, Princess Lily,” the woman said in a calm voice, and then turned to Hermione. “And you are…?”

“Bellatrix  _ Lestrange?!”  _ Hermione’s face twisted. “No. No. I can’t do this. Not if she’s my cousin.”


	29. Devotion

“Excuse me?” Bellatrix Lestrange said, standing up and holding out a hand, which a wand flew towards, summoned nonverbally. 

“I  _ said,  _ I will not be your cousin! I cannot be the cousin of someone who tortured one of my housemate’s parents until he became an orphan,” Hermione bristled, eyes blazing as she stared down Bellatrix. 

“The little brat needs to learn who she’s speaking to…” Bellatrix hissed to Narcissa as she pointed her wand towards Hermione. “Cr-”

“Bella. No,” Narcissa put her hand out and pushed Bellatrix’s down. “She’s just a child.”

“So?” Bellatrix turned fully towards Narcissa, with equal fire in her eyes. “When I was her age, I knelt before the Dark Lord, reverent of him and of the chance to even  _ meet  _ him. This blood traitor cannot properly understand my devotion to my Master or to the cause -”

“I know, and I remember,” Narcissa soothed her sister, softly taking her sister’s wand out of her hand. “But she was raised by Muggles, and sorted into Gryffindor House through no fault of her own. Our Princess has deemed her worthy of her company, and we must respect this.”

Bellatrix blinked, and turned back towards Lily, looking back at her for the first time. “Of course, my Princess. I apologize for the discretion.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Lestrange. In the future, you don’t need to intervene, I will take care of misbehavior by my own friends,” Lily responded to Bellatrix, hoping that Bellatrix would take her difference in tone from Narcissa’s as an indication that she did not need to be treated as the Princess of the Dark Side in this space, not that she was actually respecting the woman and ignoring her inappropriate reaction. 

Bellatrix lowered her head in acknowledgement of what Lily had said, as Lily heard the soft padding of feet from behind her. She turned around and saw the two Lestrange twins who had pledged their loyalty to her in the Slytherin common room that night. Great. More people who had potentially seen her Hermione corrected by someone who was almost certainly a senior Death Eater. And… probably their mother. This did not bode well for their treatment of Hermione in the future.

Narcissa jumped into action, pushing past Lily and Hermione and toward the girls, who looked only a little older than Lily and Hermione. “Cassiopeia! Desdemona! Why don’t the two of you take your new cousin Hermione to our library so she can look at some of the books?” It was an order, not a suggestion, and the twins also recognized this. Nodding, one of the girls reached out a hand to Hermione. 

Hermione looked at Lily with a conflicted expression on her face. Lily could guess what she was thinking - books, but on the other hand strange Slytherins who she had never met before and were clearly related to and took orders from a woman who had almost just cast an Unforgivable Curse on her? 

“I’ll come with you,” Lily reassured Hermione. Narcissa had a slightly surprised expression, but she composed herself and nodded.

The four girls headed to the library in Malfoy Manor, while Lily hoped against hope that her father wouldn’t make an appearance. That would just make tonight even more awful - and would probably make Hermione run for the heels, screaming that she’d been seduced by the Dark Side or something like that.

“So, you’re a Gryffindor. That must be… interesting,” one of the twins started. “I’m Desdemona by the way, but you can call me Desi.”

“Yeah,” Hermione said, and then looked over at Lily with a shy smile. “Lily is the best part of being Gryffindor, but sometimes I wish I was a Ravenclaw.”

“Which is why Aunt Narcissa said we should go to the library, I bet?” the other twin, Cassie, asked with a playful smile. 

Hermione flinched a little. “The two of you… are you Bellatrix Lestrange’s daughters?”

“Perceptive,” Desi said. “Yeah, we are. Is that a problem?”

“I just… I’m in the same year as Neville Longbottom. Who is horrified at what she did to his parents. And worried that  _ she’ll _ come after him now too, since she managed to break out of Azkaban only nine months after she got confined!” Hermione wrung her hands in anxiety. “You’re the daughters of the most evil woman in this world that I’ve ever heard of. How else am I supposed to react?”

“React knowing that we’re your cousins, and that neither she nor we mean you any harm. You’re safe here, Lily wouldn’t have taken you anywhere unsafe,” Cassie linked arms with Hermione, who flinched but eventually relaxed. “Want to nerd out about books?”

“Probably books that you  _ can’t  _ find at the Hogwarts library,” Desi added. “My Princess, have you shown Hermione any of those?”

“I know about daughters of Magic,” Hermione contributed, with a hopeful smile at the twins. 

“Oh really? What do you know?” Desi asked. They were almost at the library, and Cassie ran forward to grab a book from one of the shelves, and looked stuck in thought for a moment or so. Then, she grabbed three more, and walked towards the others, carrying all the books with the highest pressed up against her chin.

“I know that there’s a belief that all wixen are chosen specifically by an entity called Lady Magic to bear the gift of magic, and that a lot of people think it’s an outdated, too spiritual belief. Like the author of the book that is in the Hogwarts library, and pretty much most people at Hogwarts, I would bet,” Hermione explained.

Cassie shared an uneasy look with her twin, and reached a hand out for the highest book on the stack. Desi bit her lip and shoved the other twin’s hand off the book. Hermione looked at Lily, confused.

“How about you just take a look at this, first,” Desi said, retrieving the Malfoy’s copy of  _ Lady Magic’s Chosen  _ from the bottom of the stack and handing it to Hermione. “You can just… ask us any questions you have. You want to learn about different cultures and belief systems in the Wizarding World, right?”

Hermione nodded eagerly, and opened the book, sitting down in one of the chairs in the library. As Hermione engrossed herself in the book, the twins approached her cautiously.

“My Princess, would you like us to attempt a meditation with your friend today…?” Cassie asked.

Lily knew what a meditation was - one of the ways to connect with Magic and your own magic - and had done a few herself, so she was glad she hadn’t been blindsided by the question from a traditionalist daughter of Magic. “Sure. If she seems to be receiving the book well. I think she will.”

“My Princess, if I may be so bold…  _ Why are you friends with someone if you’re not sure she’ll receive the teachings of the Dark Side well? _ ” Desi asked, leaning in and whispering the last part. 

“Well, unless you’d like to figure out a way for me to suddenly transfer to Slytherin, I’m stuck with the Gryffindors. I may as well pick the best and most reasonable of the crop,” Lily snapped at Desi in a low voice. She still wanted to be quiet, in case Hermione could hear, although it probably wasn’t that much of a worry since Hermione was very absorbed in her book.

Desi opened and shut her mouth, clearly having nothing to say.

“Take good care of my girl, or you’ll be facing me for the repercussions of not doing so. Not unlike your mother,” Lily spat, and then turned and walked away from the library. She needed to deal with Bellatrix, without someone who didn’t know she was the Dark Princess watching. 


	30. His Most Loyal Servant

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A proper meeting of Bellatrix.

After telling off the Lestrange twins, Lily returned to the other portion of the manor, where Narcissa and Bellatrix still were. She didn’t see it fit to knock - she simply opened the door and walked right into Bellatrix’s room.

“What did you think you were doing, Lestrange?” she demanded, wand held tightly at her side. “And  _ who  _ did you think you were talking to?”

Bellatrix looked startled by Lily’s sharp language, but Narcissa did not. Then again, Narcissa most likely knew about the punishment two of the Dark Lord’s most trusted Death Eaters had faced at the hands of an irate Dark Princess. 

“My Princess, that girl is a lower-ranking member of the House of Black, who is currently being shown hospitality by my sister and her husband. She has not even been Presented yet, nor has she been formally blood-adopted into the House of Black and her magic reclaimed by the House. Quite frankly, I do not understand your frustration at my treatment of her,” Bellatrix answered, in a remarkably calm voice. Lily had to acknowledge that she did make a valid point - or rather, a point that would be valid if her father hadn’t given her ultimate authority over everyone on the Dark Side except for him, including adults. It was good to be finally dealing with a sensible Death Eater, at least. 

“Lestrange, as I’m sure your much more sensible sister pointed out, she is a Muggleborn. The only stories she’s heard of our side of the war are those told to her by Gryffindors, seeing as she was not sorted into Slytherin. Which is also not her fault - Salazar Slytherin’s portion of the hat only chooses wixen who are either already Dark-side affiliated or have a strong potential to be so. 

Bellatrix Lestrange swallowed conspicuously. “I’m sorry, my Princess.”

“Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m going to deal with Hermione too, but you’re my Death Eater and directly subservient to me. I expect better from the woman so loyal to my father that she tortured two Aurors to insanity to find out what they were planning on doing with the Cup they had stolen from her vault,” Honestly, Lily privately thought that her father would’ve come back a lot faster if one of his most loyal Death Eaters had actually  _ known  _ the significance of the artifact he’d given her, but she supposed she could understand the paranoia. He hadn’t even told  _ her  _ about the locations of the rest of the Horcruxes when he’d sent her the letter explaining how he was back after his fall, and she’d been told to guard her mind from anyone finding out even about how he’d used a Horcrux to bring himself back.

Bellatrix raised an eyebrow, and she let out a snort. “ _ Your  _ Death Eater? Little princess, I serve the Dark Lord and no one else.”

Lily stiffened, Bella’s words cutting her. Maybe this kind of thing was why she was having so much trouble with the various Death Eaters, and having to punish so many of them. They just saw her as a  _ little princess. _

“Crucio!” Lily shouted, firing a curse at Bellatrix, which was deflected with a hand and a laugh. 

“You think I don’t know how to defend myself?” Bellatrix smirked.

“Bella, this is our Lord’s  _ daughter…”  _ Narcissa hissed, clearly upset and torn in her loyalties.

“And I’m his most loyal servant, who has been second in command over his forces since I broke out of Azkaban and found a way to bring him back to life. I am not  _ her  _ servant. She’s done nothing to earn it.” Bellatrix Lestrange stood proud, dark hair framing her face.

“You say you are his most loyal servant, Lestrange, yet you refuse to acknowledge me as his heiress in everything?” Lily demanded. She was angry, but she was also upset. Maybe Bella had a point. 

Then, she thought of something, a way to turn the tables in her favor. “My father lives in this house. He will be here at this moment. “I’m certain he would not be happy to hear that you have displeased me.”

Bellatrix’s mouth opened in shock, but she didn’t say anything as Lily turned around, hoping she didn’t get lost on the way to her father’s office, because that would be humiliating. At least if she did, she could ask a House Elf for help.

***

Lily took a few wrong turns, but eventually ended up outside her father’s office and knocking on the door. 

“Come in, Lily dear,” he called, and she opened the door to walk in.

“I… don’t mean to disturb you,” Lily said in a quiet voice, most of her Dark Princess attitude from earlier gone. 

“You’re not disturbing me,” He cleared some papers off his desk with a wand movement, and reached a hand across it. “What’s wrong?”

“I just met Bellatrix Lestrange,” she admitted, sitting down across from him, and taking his hand. “I, uh…”

She didn’t know what to say, and she was grateful for his Legilimency skills as he gently prodded into her mind and she let him in. If she had messed up, it was easier to admit it to him this way than out loud.

She saw the memories flash in her head briefly as he viewed them, and bit her lip nervously. He soon withdrew from her mind, furrowing his eyebrows.

“Was I… okay?” she asked, hands shaking a little. She’d lectured his most powerful and honored Death Eater. Who, granted, had tried to curse her Hermione, but still.

“The only issue is that you escorted Hermione Granger into Malfoy Manor, my current place of residence, without my permission. It seems that everyone made mistakes tonight,” he said with a small smile. “I’m glad for your and her sake that she turned out to be a member of the House of Black - the magic of the house would have rejected her if she did not fulfill that or certain other conditions, and considering that you were trying to Floo her directly into the house…”

“What would have happened?” Lily asked, hand that wasn’t holding her father’s clenching the chair. 

“She could have died,” her father stated simply, looking straight into her eyes. “It is my magic that is currently warding this house, and as I’m sure many wixen know, my magic is very powerful. If she’d pushed at all to get into the house, that would have been considered an attempt to attack me despite the warning, and regardless of her age she would have either died or ended up in a situation where Snape had to make up some reason that Madame Pomfrey needed to do emergency magical healing on her. I didn’t mention this before when you brought Draco to the manor because he is literally a child of the House, but if you bring anyone unauthorized in the future then…” 

Oh, fuck. Lily knew what she  _ wouldn’t  _ be telling Hermione about tonight’s visit. 

“As for Bellatrix’s reaction to Hermione’s statement… it is somewhat understandable, but she should not have reacted that way. She should not have been so quick to curse one of your guests. She also needs to realize that she  _ does  _ serve you, and she  _ is  _ your Death Eater. In fact, I would not be surprised if many members of my forces need to realize that. What would you think of a meeting of all of the Death Eaters? I know you were once pledged loyalty by junior members of the Dark Side in Slytherin. How does a similar pledge by Death Eaters sound?”

Lily gasped, a big smile spreading across her face. “That would be great!” she squeaked. Even if she couldn’t claim her heritage as the daughter of Voldemort at Hogwarts, she could in front of many Death Eaters. 

“Excellent,” Her father smiled, and twisted in his chair to grab his wand. Lily could see the small part of the left side of his head that was shaved, with a small snake tattoo on the skin. He took the wand and pressed it to the tattoo, which lit up and twisted around his wand.

“Wait, right now?” Lily asked. “Isn’t it kind of late?”

“They’re Death Eaters, dear. They live to be at our beck and call,” her father said with a smile. 


	31. Loyalty

The Dark Lord soon dismissed Lily from his office, with the instruction to find Hermione and accompany her to one of the guest rooms in Malfoy Manor, and then return to his office so they could go to the meeting together. Images of what Slytherin Manor might look through ran through Lily’s head, distracting her, as she walked to the library.

When she arrived, Hermione was already half-asleep on one of the chairs in the library, attempting to keep her eyes open while she read the first book from the stack that the twins had gotten her.  _ Lady Magic’s Chosen  _ was on the table next to her, closed.

“Hermione, it’s time to go,” Lily said, tapping the girl on her shoulder.

“Mmf?” Hermione jumped a little and looked up from her book, eyes drooping. “Pri-cess Lily?” One of the twins, Lily couldn’t tell which one, muffled a giggle.

“Yeah, it’s time to go to bed. Narcissa prepared a guest room for you; you can stay here tonight if you’d like,” Lily told Hermione, pulling the girl up by an arm.

An exhausted Hermione wrapped her arm around Lily’s waist, cuddling her. Desi stood up and grabbed the book that Hermione had been reading, along with the other two that had been selected from the library.

About ten minutes later, the girls had arrived in Hermione’s temporary bedroom, put the books on one of the bedside tables and tucked Hermione in. “You can feel free to sleep in this room tonight as well, My Princess,” Desi told Lily. “Of course, if you wish to have your own room Cassie and I will be happy to prepare another.”

“No, I think I’ll sleep with Hermione in this one,” Lily answered. She didn’t even realize what she’d said until Desi smirked. Whatever - she wasn’t going to correct that. She was allowed to do whatever she wanted, although she would not end up having sex with someone her father didn’t already know and like. 

“Of course. Good night, then, my Princess. I know you have a meeting to attend,” Desi said. 

***

To Lily’s surprise, when she returned to her father’s office, they didn’t go to the meeting immediately. “No, that won’t do,” he said, after taking one look at her Hogwarts uniform.

Lily, feeling slightly deflated, said, “Oh,”

“It’s nothing against you, my dear. The Hogwarts uniforms are simply abysmal and not appropriate for a full assembly of Death Eaters. Luckily, since I adopted you I’ve had several outfits made that  _ are  _ appropriate. Follow me.” 

Lily’s expression turned into a smile as she followed her father to another wing of the house, where he opened a door to a room. It was clearly going to be her room, but she barely got a chance to process it beyond the bed and its silver posts before he opened the wardrobe and a beautiful collection of dresses appeared before her eyes.

The first was a deep green dress made out of velvet, with long sleeves and tiny crystals shaped like stars adorning the hem of the skirt and the waistline. Lily couldn’t help but reach out a hand to brush it, but her eyes darted to her father, asking for approval. He nodded, and she squeaked, feeling the fabric of the dress as well as the smooth crystals. She’d  _ never  _ been allowed to touch any of Aunt Petunia’s fancy clothes at the Dursleys, and she’d obviously never had any pretty dresses of her own, because Aunt Petunia had just said she would make them dirty. Even though  _ Dudley  _ had been allowed suits for events at school.

The second was sparkling silver, with lace cascading down in layers and making intricate patterns on the skirt. It had shorter sleeves, and a shining fabric that looked like it was made out of glitter but didn’t come off on Lily’s hand when she touched the sleeve. 

The fabric of the third dress was ruffled gold, and was very pretty but not really a good option for a meeting that Lily assumed would be fairly formal, what with the pledging of loyalty and whatnot. The fourth dress was also gorgeous, and made out of purple silk, with a slightly deeper neckline. Lily beamed at all of the dresses, and eventually selected the green one.

“I thought you might select that one,” her father said, and bent down to whisper in her ear, “Even if you weren’t Sorted into Slytherin, you are one at heart, my dear.” Lily blushed, not sure how this night could get better. 

“And speaking of hearts…” Her father reached to the top of the wardrobe and got out a small jewelry box, from which he pulled a silver heart-shaped locket that he clasped around her neck. “Salazar Slytherin gave his wife this locket when he began their formal magical courtship. It is befitting of a Slytherin Princess.”

Dressed in a gorgeous dress and an ancient artifact of the founder of one of the Hogwarts houses, Lily very much felt like her position as the second in command of the Dark Side had been cemented. Now just came the vows of loyalty.

***

“I don’t suppose you’ve ever Apparated before,” her father said as they walked out of his office.

“Apparated?” Lily asked, looking at him in confusion. “What’s that?”

“If you’ve ever heard of teleportation in movies, it’s similar to that,” he answered her.

Lily nodded. The Dursleys had said that all sorts of magic was impossible, including teleportation. She wasn’t really surprised that teleportation  _ was  _ possible in the wizarding world, but it did seem pretty amazing. 

“Sometimes the first time can make a person feel nauseous, so I’ve brought along some potion in my jacket to guard against that. Anyway, take my arm and we’ll be off. Many of the Death Eaters will have used the Floo network to arrive, but… that’s not quite as dignified as Apparation,” he said with a smile. “Just grab my arm, and we’ll be off.”

Privately, Lily thought that showing up a place and wanting to throw up wasn’t the most dignified thing, but that was probably why her father had brought the anti-nausea potion. She took his arm.

A second later, it felt like she was being sucked into the air in front of her, and like the entirety of herself was floating, propelled by magic that swirled around her to her destination. It was beautiful but also very dizzying. Her feet finally touched down on the smooth stones of one of the rooms in Slytherin Manor, and she leaned against her father for support. He laughed and uncorked the potion, lifting it to her lips. She drank the clear concoction eagerly.

“Are we being late on purpose to confuse them, or something?” Lily asked, finally finding her feet again.

“Astute observation. In a way, yes. I am obviously able to miss my own meetings because of who I am, but they need to know that you hold power over them in the same way I do,” he answered.

Lily beamed as she adjusted to the magic of the House and they walked to chamber that the Death Eater meeting was going to take place in. The magic folded around her, welcoming her and feeling more familiar and welcoming than even Malfoy Manor had been. 

Her father then swung the door to the chamber open, and extended a hand to Lily. She took it, beaming, eyes widening as she saw the assembly of Death Eaters, which looked like it could more than fill half of the Great Hall at Hogwarts. They walked up to the front of the room, where there were two silver thrones. Lily wanted to squeak, but she knew that would not be appropriate. 

On the left side of her father’s throne, there was a small group of Death Eaters, a few of whom Lily recognized - Lucius Malfoy, Bellatrix Lestrange and  _ unfortunately  _ Snape. There were ten others.

Dark-robed Death Eaters looked up from inside their hoods at the Dark Lord and the Dark Princess, in rapt attention. When her father was properly settled on his throne, he spoke.

“I’m sure all of you have heard about the existence of my heiress, the so-called savior of the Light Side, Lily Dorea Slytherin. However, the actions of a disrespectful few of your number have led me to realize that although you have pledged your loyalty to you, neither you nor your magic may realize that your loyalty is also owed to your Princess. I’m sure you’re all familiar with the process. Lestrange, as you have most recently shown that you do not show the full deference to your Princess that she deserves, you will be the first to make the pledge.”

Bellatrix Lestrange gulped, and stepped forward, her face a shadow of the confident witch Lily had seen earlier. She kneeled down, her robes brushing against the floor, and Transfigured a needle out of air, then pricked her finger and dropped some blood into a small clay bowl she had been holding. “I, Bellatrix Lacerta Lestrange, a representative of the Black, Rosier and Lestrange families, hereby vow my loyalty to Lily Dorea Slytherin and promise to serve her in perpetuity.”

As Bellatrix made the vow, Lily felt her magic reaching out and swirling around her, claiming what was properly hers and had been resisting. Bellatrix let out a small sigh as Lily’s magic twisted around her Dark Mark.

“Thank you, Lestrange,” Lily said with a smile.

***

Many more vows were made, and soon the bowl was almost filled up. Severus Snape had stood in the shadows, not having made a vow yet, when the Dark Lord called out to him.

“Severus, don’t think you’re exempt from the vow simply because you have special Mind Arts charms on you already ensuring your loyalty to your Princess,” he said in an imperious voice. 

“O-of course not, My Lord,” Snape said, walking forward and kneeling in front of the bowl. He winced as his injured legs touched the cold tile floor, but Lily didn’t have any particular reason to care. 

“I, Severus Snape, a representative of the Snape family, hereby vow my loyalty to Lily Dorea Slytherin and promise to serve her in perpetuity,” Snape said in a low voice as his blood dropped into the bowl. Lily smirked. And he hadn’t even made any inappropriate comments about how he was going to serve her; probably because he knew that was going to end in death if he did that in front of her father. 

The Dark Lord smiled, but it was an eerie smile, not the kind smile he typically used for Lily. He pointed his wand at the bowl of blood, causing the blood to rise from the bowl all at once and twist itself in a bracelet formation, hardening and looking like glass. He then plucked the bracelet out of the air and slipped it over Lily’s wrist.

“May this always remind you of the loyalty that your Death Eaters have promised you,” he said with a smile.

***

It was around midnight when Lily stumbled back into Malfoy Manor, gleeful from all of the magic that had surrounded her and  _ submitted  _ to her, and was still worn around her wrist. She headed to the bedroom, and opened the door, discarding her clothes except for her underwear and collapsing into bed quite literally on top of Hermione. 

“Princess Lily?” Hermione mumbled, blinking up at Lily. She looked at her in confusion, probably due to the smell of blood that was still on her.

“Hi, Hermione,” Lily said, claiming Hermione’s lips with a kiss and biting. “ _ Mine. _ ”

When she lifted up her face, resting her forehead on Hermione’s, Hermione smiled, blissfully murmuring, “Yes, My Princess. Yours.”


	32. Two Sides of the Same Coin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lily begins work on earnest on figuring out how to capture the Sorcerer's Stone.

Early that morning, Lily nudged Hermione awake. Hermione yawned, snuggling up next to Lily. “I don’t wanna go to class today,” Lily heard her mumble.

“Well, that’s new,” Lily said with a little laugh, leaning down and kissing Hermione deeply.

Hermione smiled into the kiss, and then stretched out her arms on the bed. “So no school today?” she asked, looking up at Lily with a little smirk. 

“No, no more of that until after we  _ go  _ to school,” Lily answered, grabbing Hermione’s hand as she stood up. 

“I don't know,” Hermione said, sighing. “Everyone in Gryffindor says the Blacks are evil - probably because of Bellatrix Lestrange and how Ron’s grandmother was disowned for marrying into the Weasley family - but I like the library. It doesn't seem  _ evil _ to give people access to books that aren't available at Hogwarts, or to give Muggleborns tests to find out whether they're descended from any Squibs from Wizarding families. Why would someone think that was evil?”

Lily shrugged. She didn't understand why people thought blood magic and more ancient magic was evil. “I guess people are just scared of kinds of magic they don't understand.”

“Well,  _ that  _ just seems like a lot of wizards are acting like the kinds of Muggles who are the reason the Statute of Secrecy exists,” Hermione scoffed. “Whenever I ask any of the Weasleys about the Slytherins or blood magic, I'm just told that it's dark and evil. I'm not given any reasons. Honestly, sometimes I wonder if certain wizards were given the chance, if they'd burn people like Cassie and Desi. Or… you, I guess, Lily.”

“Well, thankfully, they're not going to get the chance,” Lily said with a smile. “And to everyone in Gryffindor, I'm a little princess, the lamb of the Light Side, the  _ girl who lived _ .” Lily scoffed at the last statement. “Honestly, I don't think having this scar makes me much better than anyone else.”

“No. You're better because you're open minded, and because you don't let anyone call me Mudblood, not because society tells you it's wrong but because you  _ know  _ it's wrong. You're better because you're brave, and because you managed to get through everything the Dursleys put you through without breaking,” Hermione smiled, linking her arm with Lily’s, “And that's more important to me than any stupid scar.”

_ Well, I didn't exactly have any alternative until this year…  _ Lily thought as they headed to the Floo gate.

***

The first class of the day for Lily and Hermione was Charms, and it was with the Slytherins. Most of the Gryffindors groaned about this, but Lily didn’t. The previous night after the meeting, she’d instructed the twins to pass on a message to Draco that he was supposed to ask about the Sorcerer’s Stone in his Charms class first period. Sure, it would probably be received a little better if the Girl Who Lived instead of the heir of the Malfoys and Blacks asked about a magical artifact, but if Lily asked the question, Flitwick would be paying attention to her, and then it would be harder to unobtrusively do Legilimency on him. 

Lily’s plan paid off when there was a pause in Flitwick’s lecture, and Draco raised his hand. “Sir, what is the Sorcerer’s Stone?”

Flitwick blinked at the Slytherin, and started going on about how it was a fantastical item created by Nicholas Flamel. That was all that Lily needed. She whispered  _ Legilimens  _ under her breath, while pointing her wand at Flitwick under the desk. She’d heard from her father that he would be the easiest target, and she hoped that he only thought he was thinking of his obstacle to guard the Stone because he was also thinking of the legend of the Stone itself.

When Lily dove into Flitwick’s mind, the first thing she saw was a memory of him looking at a book in the Hogwarts library that mentioned Flamel. Impatient, she pushed past that, trying to zoom in on the difficulty that the book had said creating the stone caused Flamel.  _ That  _ worked, and Lily found herself standing inside a memory in Flitwitck’s mind, with hundreds of winged keys zooming around in the air and a few broomsticks propped up against the wall. Lily scoffed - she’d qualified for the Seeker position in her first week at Hogwarts, catching a key really wouldn’t be  _ difficult.  _ As  _ if  _ she needed special preparation for that beyond her Quidditch practice.

“Why are you smiling?” Hermione asked, when Flitwick stopped fielding questions about the Stone and she returned her focus to the class.

“I just… I like magic,” Lily said with a smile.

“ _ Sure _ ,” Hermione said, sounding like she didn’t entirely believe Lily. 

***

That afternoon, Hermione found Lily in the common room, holding a note from someone, and plopped down next to her. 

“What’s that?” Lily asked, nodding at the piece of paper Hermione was holding.

“I ran into the groundskeeper today, Hagrid. He was basically just wondering how you were doing, since he hadn’t really talked to you since you came to Hogwarts. He gave me a note with some fudge and an invite to come down to his cabin. Basically, everyone wants the scoop on the Girl Who Lived,” Hermione said with a small smile. Lily smiled back, remembering their conversation earlier where 

“Cool, I guess I’ll go visit him, it’s not like I have much to do tonight anyway,” Lily said, taking the fudge that Hermione had put down on the table along with the letter. 

“Alone?” Hermione asked, looking up at her with concern.

“Yeah?” Lily asked, confused.

“Well… it’s getting dark out, and you’re going to the cabin alone of an adult. Who is really huge,” Hermione said, referring to Hagrid’s half-giant status.

Lily thought about saying that she had Hagrid under a similar kind of control that she had over Snape, but she figured Hermione might think that was improbable. She’d remembered something, and that was why she wanted to go to Hagrid’s alone - why she wanted to go to Hagrid’s at all, actually. On her first trip to Diagon Alley, she’d been so caught up in everything that she’d barely registered the small package from the vault that Hagrid had retrieved, but now she wondered if it might have been the Sorcerer’s Stone. Her father hadn’t told her to Legilimens Hagrid, but it couldn’t hurt considering that he’d been in possession of a suspiciously stone-shaped package…

“His wand has been snapped. He can’t even cast anything. If he decides to do anything, I’ll just curse his balls off the same way I cursed Fred that day at breakfast,” Lily said, shrugging. 

Hermione shrugged, accepting Lily’s answer. “Okay then.”

***

Lily walked down to Hagrid’s cabin under the Invisibility Cloak, and knocked on the door when she arrived. “Hagrid?” she called out. “I got your note,”

The half-giant opened the door, welcoming her into his cabin. “Lily! It’s nice to see you,” He reached out for a hug, and Lily accepted, not realizing how strong he was. 

When she emerged from the hug, Lily rubbed her arms, and Hagrid winced. “Oh, er, didn’t mean to hurt you. Sorry, Lily,”

“That’s okay,” Lily said, sitting down and taking the piece of fudge out of her jacket so she could start eating it. It was much chewier than any fudge she’d ever had before, but then again, she’d never really had many sweets before she’d gone to Hogwarts, so she supposed it wasn’t so bad in the grand scheme of things. 

“So, how have your classes been?” Hagrid asked, bustling around in his cabin and making some tea. 

“Uh, well, they’ve been good. Things have been good in general, except someone called Hermione a mudblood and told me it wasn’t a word for all Muggleborns, just bad ones…” Lily trailed off, wondering how Hagrid would respond. She was pretty sure she knew, if her guess that Dumbledore had tasked him with retrieving the Stone was correct, but she wanted confirmation.

Hagrid turned around, splashing some of the water out of the kettle and looking at Lily in horror. “Must’ve been a bloody Slytherin… they all say that. They just mean Muggleborns who agree with them about completely rejecting their heritage. Hmph.” Hagrid shook his head, and, after realizing what he’d done, returned the kettle to the stove. 

“Here, have some more fudge,” Hagrid said, grabbing several more pieces of fudge and putting them on the table. Lily gingerly took another piece of fudge, hoping it would be better than the first and making a mental note to eat this one slowly. 

Lily nodded along with what Hagrid had said, transitioning to the subject that she’d actually come to his cottage to discuss. “Oh yeah, and Malfoy asked Professor Flitwick about the Sorcerer’s Stone in class today. Weird, because I’m not sure it’s really a Charms thing. What subject would teach you about that kind of thing, anyway?” she asked.

“Well, Lily, I really dunno, because I only attended three years of Hogwarts, but it’s alchemy, so mayhaps Potions?” Hagrid said with a shrug. As he spoke, Lily pointed her wand at him under the table and cast  _ Legilimens.  _ It was more risky than it had been with Flitwick, but he was a giant and had hardly completed any Hogwarts… Lily was sure it would be fine.

And it seemed fine, at least at first. Lily saw images she recognized, of Hagrid retrieving the stone from the vault, and then one she didn’t, of a three-headed dog barking as Hagrid removed himself from the very same corridor that Dumbledore had said students would die a painful death if they entered. She chewed her very chewy fudge, hoping that it would seem like a good reason she wasn’t talking. She also focused on the dog, trying to find other images in Hagrid’s mind. Lo and behold, there was - a photo of the very same dog snoring on the floor of his hut while Hagrid played music on a harp. “Good boy, Fluffy,” Hagrid said, scratching the beast on its head, as the dog lifted up his head. Hagrid chuckled and returned back to his harp, and in a moment Fluffy was falling asleep again. 

Lily wasn’t entirely focused on the physical world as she was looking at Hagrid’s memories, so she didn’t notice until she snapped out of it that he’d stood up from his chair and was looking at her aggressively. “What’s that yer doing?” he asked. 

“Chewing my fudge?” Lily asked, looking up at Hagrid and trying to play the innocent Girl Who Lived. 

“It’s more than that,” Hagrid pointed a finger at Lily accusingly. “Yer casting a spell at me. Trying to read my mind, just like  _ he  _ did.”

“Hagrid…” Lily stood up and backed away from the half-giant, clutching her wand and thinking she might have to make good on what she’d said to Hermione. “I promise I’m not doing anything bad.”

“Not’in bad in itself, but dark,” Hagrid hissed, walking closer to Lily. “Maybe yer  _ possessed  _ by him. Or turning into him, tryna steal the secret of immortality for yerself. They do say yer two sides of the same coin.”

Lily wracked her mind, trying to come up with something to stop Hagrid’s erratic behavior and make him forget what he’d found out. The Imperius Curse on its own wouldn’t work, she didn’t think she could just order Hagrid to forget. What else was similar… She finally remembered the curse Eva had used on Lupin. “Confundo!” She swung her wand towards Hagrid, casting the confusion charm on him.

Hagrid’s eyes went wide as he heard her casting the spell before it landed, and he raised his hand to his head in confusion upon Lily having successfully cast the spell. Lily followed it up with an immediate  _ Stupefy,  _ sending Hagrid crashing to the floor. She then sat back down, finishing her fudge and looking very concerned.

A few minutes later, Hagrid stood up, still clearly under the effects of the Confundus Charm. “What ‘appened?” he asked.

“You were making tea, and you fell and hit your head! I was just about to go get Dumbledore, or someone,” Lily said, feigning the role of the innocent Girl Who Lived. 

“Eh, eh, I’m fine,” Hagrid slumped down in his chair, and then picked up a piece of fudge and offered it to Lily. “Fudge?”  
“I already had some, and this was a really nice visit, but I’m going to go. Thank you!” Lily said, standing up and abandoning the rest of the fudge. It wasn’t very good anyway, and she just wanted to get out of there and avoid Hagrid so he didn’t start to suspect her. 

 


	33. Incendio

Lungs burning, Lily collapsed on her bed in the Gryffindor dorm. She’d ran all the way from Hagrid’s hut to the common room, the invisibility cloak making it somewhat difficult. She was probably overreacting, but she was scared. It felt like she’d seen for the first time the dark side of being the daughter of Lord Voldemort, who was openly hated by most of the wizarding world. And from the way Hagrid had talked, it sounded like he’d had personal experience with her father, and had maybe even been a personal enemy of his. Then again, there were a lot of people who said they’d been hypnotized by the Dark Lord - maybe Hagrid was just being paranoid. But Lily thought it might be more than that. 

She finally detangled herself from the invisibility cloak, breathing heavily. Finally deciding that she might as well contact her father about what had happened, she lifted two shaky fingers to her scar and pressed them right on her scar, focusing as hard as she could on wanting to contact him. Pain coursed through Lily’s head as she fell back against the pillows, and she hoped nothing was wrong. She’d experienced plenty of pain at the Dursleys, so she didn’t say anything as the pain abided. She was comfortable showing up to the Malfoys unannounced, but she did want to properly contact her father before she stormed into his office, after what had happened previous times.

***

Hermione was much more confident at Hogwarts now that she’d been recognized as a member of a prominent Wizarding family, and had actually started learning about other kinds of magic. Somehow, since meeting the twins at Malfoy Manor, she’d read all of the books that she’d been given. Lily was impressed - she was pretty good at reading, but nowhere near  _ that  _ good. 

Now, instead of correcting mistakes that teachers made in class, Hermione just looked unimpressed, but didn’t bother to correct them. It was a significant change - from what Lily could tell, Hermione still cared just as much about the material, but she cared significantly less about gaining approval from the teachers. As far as Lily was concerned, this was an improvement.

They were learning the Fire-Making Charm in class that day, and after she’d mastered the charm, Hermione raised her hand. “What can be done with the fire once it’s lit, Professor? Can it be levitated and used for other purposes?”

A nervous-looking Flitwick looked around the classroom, where most of the students were still having problems completing even the basic spell. Dean Thomas had accidentally set Seamus Finnegan’s hair on fire instead of his paper, and Neville Longbottom kept on pointing his wand towards his paper and screwing up his face before casting the spell, and still not even managing to make fire emerge from his wand.

“That’s… too advanced for just now, Miss Granger,” he said.

“Really?” Hermione asked, and then looked at her paper, which was burning in a very controlled way on the desk. 

“Hermione…” Lily said in a voice that sounded like a sigh. She was perfectly confident in Hermione’s ability to perform the charm, but she didn’t want Hermione drawing any more attention to her disillusionment with Hogwarts than necessary. 

“ _ Wingardium Leviosa _ ,” Hermione said, pointing at her piece of paper, which levitated up in the air, the rush of air reigniting the fire and causing it to burn brighter. Flitwick jumped up and flicked out his wand, clearly worried that someone else’s hair would burn. But Hermione had it under control. “ _ Finate Incantatem,”  _ she cast, and the paper fluttered back down to the desk, the fire burning out.

“Teacher’s pet,” Ron coughed from behind Hermione.

“I thought Draco Malfoy was the bully, Ronald,” Hermione said in a measured voice, folding her hands over her chest.

***

That night after dinner, Lily felt her scar burning. It had been a scary experience the first few times, but now that Lily knew it actually meant that her father, someone who loved her, wanted to talk to her, it was a lot less scary. 

Lily excused herself from her conversation with the Patils and headed up the tower to get her Invisibility Cloak, and slipped it over her head. Technically, there was nothing wrong with her going to Snape’s office this time of night, but it still seemed sensible. 

Soon, she arrived at Malfoy Manor, and headed over to knock on the door of her father’s office. “Come in,” she heard, and she slipped in, taking the Cloak off. 

“Hello, Lily,” her father said with a smile. “It’s nice to see you. What did you want to talk about?”

Lily fumbled over her words, all of a sudden embarrassed to be bringing the Hagrid issue to her father. “Can you just Legilimens me?” she asked, blushing. She really didn’t want to tell him out loud that her Legilimency on someone who hadn’t even graduated from Hogwarts had backfired so spectacularly.

He nodded, a concerned expression falling over his face, and motioned for her to sit down. She felt him enter her mind, pushing past her anxiety and how she’d avoided thinking about the memory. Her cheeks burned as he saw the part of the memory that involved Hagrid growing suspicious of her.

“Are… you mad at me?” she asked, nervous.

Her father withdrew from her mind and shook his head, then rested his chin on his hand. “I’m honestly surprised that Hagrid was used as one of the people to create obstacles. How did you find that out?”

Lily blinked. “He… well, I realized the thing he’d retrieved from the vault at Gringotts when we went had probably been the Sorcerer’s Stone. And then I thought, he’s trusted by Dumbledore, he’s the one who Dumbledore chose to get me from the Dursleys and to deposit me on their steps in the first place, he would probably be trusted for something like guarding the Stone, too.”

Voldemort nodded. “I should have included him on the list, and I should have prepared you properly for Legilimensing him. I’m sorry. Giants - and half giants - are harder to Legilimens because at their basis, they’re not human. Magical creatures have a different make-up, and sometimes said make-up makes it more difficult to cast certain spells on them. But you reacted well under pressure. I suppose that’s why you were sorted into Gryffindor,”  
Lily smiled softly, pleased that for once her father had attributed positive traits to the House she’d been sorted into. “Thank you, Father,” she said, bowing her head.

Voldemort didn’t speak, and Lily knew that he expected her to ask the question that was on her mind. He wasn’t going to let her get away with Legilimensing it out of her this time. So, shakily, she asked “... What happened with you and Hagrid?”

Voldemort’s eyes flashed, and Lily felt a sense that he was in a very bad mood remembering what had happened between him and Hagrid. “He was also a member of Slytherin House, but one of the few who wasn’t explicitly dark-aligned. I attempted to mentor him, but he eventually decided  _ I  _ wasn’t good enough for him because I was too sadistic,” Her father scoffed. “During my time at Hogwarts, he tried to get me expelled, so I exposed him for owning an illegal magical creature and got him expelled instead. That’s all it is. Of course I used magic on him - there was practically no-one I was close with who I  _ didn’t  _ use magic on. I think he likes to think he’s special because I got him expelled,”

Her father’s tone was acidic, and Lily winced. No wonder Hagrid hated her father so much. And Slytherins.

“Of course, Albus Dumbledore, the only one who is more of a savior of the wizarding world than you…” her father continued in a sarcastic voice, “decided to hire him as a groundskeeper and teacher at Hogwarts, while passing up my offer to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts. So he was able to live a better life than he deserved, the exact kind of life he wanted, obsessing over magical creatures and breaking all sorts of laws. Just another reason that Albus Dumbledore is incompetent and breaks what is good of wizarding society.”

“Everyone thinks he’s kind,” Lily hissed. “But it’s calculated, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” her father answered. “But, explain. How do you see it?”

“He took someone who had been ostracized from Slytherin, and placed him in a prominent position at Hogwarts. To everyone else, this would seem kind, but he’s manipulating all of the younger students into seeing Slytherin as evil.”

“A good analysis,” Voldemort responded. “Yes, he does. He does that, and many other things like that. You’re grasping more things about the Wizarding world, Lily,”

“Thank you?” Lily said, figuring there would probably be a “but”.

“And since you’re here, we’re going to continue with your Resiliency Training. Put down your wand and follow me.”


	34. Pain and Pleasure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lily has her second session of Resiliency Training, continues with her quest to find the Stone and attends a Slytherin party.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Probably the least safe for work chapter yet. Can be interpreted to be fairly kinky. If that bothers you... really, why are you still reading?

Lily followed her father into a large room in Malfoy Manor. Various magical artifacts lined the wall, and there were dummies against the wall, leading Lily to believe that this was a room specifically for the magical training of children of the House of Black. Lily and her father sat down on a soft rug in the floor, Lily crossing her legs for stability.

“I’m sorry to spring it all on you so suddenly,” her father said, drawing out his wand. “But the fact is, being my heiress is a dangerous position, and you need to be prepared for the worst. What happened with Hagrid has made me realize that the process needs to be hastened. You are strong - I know that you can handle this being your last session of Resiliency Training before the Cruciatus Curse is cast on you,”

Lily bit her lip. She could handle pain. As long as it didn’t mean her father was rejecting her.

“On the contrary. You are experiencing this because you are worthy of being my heiress,” he answered. With a wave of his wand, Lily’s clothes changed from her Hogwarts robes to something a lot more Muggle that more or less resembled her gym clothes from primary school. She was wearing a close-fitting pair of shorts and a shirt in Slytherin colors, and Lily thought with amusement that it looked like what a Slytherin House Quidditch uniform would be if Quidditch was played by Muggles.

“Why… Why the new clothes?” Lily asked. 

Her father’s eyes were narrowed, clearly determined. “I’m going to cause you pain, dearest. That’s easier if you’re more accessible.” 

Lily shivered, although she found that she wasn’t _ just  _ scared at the prospect of pain. Whatever pain she would experience tonight, she would wear as a badge of honor, and with the knowledge that the Dark Lord himself had chosen her as his heiress.

“I understand, my Lord,” she answered, finding herself slipping into the honorific. 

He didn’t object this time. “I am going to cast the sensory-heightening charm on you, which will make it significantly easier for me to cause you pain.  _ Sensifera,”  _

Every bit of Lily’s body immediately felt alive with energy, and the rug she was sitting on felt intolerably soft. If that was what something pleasant felt like, what would pain feel like? She found out when her father reached out a finger and scratched her exposed thigh. She winced at the pain, instinctively turning away, but he put his other hand on her cheek and gently but firmly turned her face towards him. “Stay. If you’re being tortured by a member of the Light Side, physically leaving won’t be a viable option. Be physically present, but mentally detached. Don’t pay attention to it. You’re stronger than the pain.” 

That sentence made Lily snap back to reality, however disturbing the implications were. Leaving the training wasn’t an option without disgracing both her and her father. The next time when he touched her, Lily pushed away any registering of the pain, like she would when Dudley and his friends would bully her and beat her up, or like when Uncle Vernon would choke her. She was aware of the sensation of the scraping, but it was more like an afterthought. Her mind was empty. 

Lily didn’t know how long the training went on, but eventually it was over, the charm was lifted and her father was holding her in his arms, petting her hair that she still thought looked much too much like the hair of a legendary hero of the  _ Light  _ side. 

“Did I do well?” she asked, blinking up at her father.

“Yes,” he answered, with what sounded like a relieved sigh. “You’re my good girl.”

***

Thankfully, the Resiliency Training of that day didn’t cause nearly as much of a problem for Lily’s muscles as the first session had. Her father still gave her the temporary cure potion, however, promising her that he and his Healers were working as hard as they could on finding the permanent cure. The Dark Lord looked almost  _ stressed _ as he promised that. Later, lying on her bed in Gryffindor Tower, Lily briefly worried that she was too broken to be his heiress, but she did her best to push that worry away. 

The next day, Lily ignored the nervous pitter-patter of her heart as she walked to Herbology Class. Professor Sprout was the next one on her list, and her second to last before McGonagall. She wasn’t supposed to risk Legilimensing Dumbledore to find out what the final challenge would be to retrieve the Stone. Despite the fact that Professor Sprout wasn’t any kind of non-human magical creature, she was still nervous after what had happened with Hagrid.

The Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs walked into Greenhouse One, and Professor Sprout directed them over to a row of plants with large purple bulbs, that had all overgrown their pots. 

“Today you will be repotting the Bouncing Bulb plants,” Sprout announced, pointing to the row of plants. “They must be contained with a pot and a magical shield, and can be dangerous if handled improperly as they move on their own and may attack if not repotted fast enough.”

_ Dangerous _ ? Lily thought, amused. 

“If there are dangerous things in Greenhouse One… what sort of things are there in Greenhouses Two and Three?” a nervous Hannah Abbott asked. 

Professor Sprout laughed. “Oh, I was really only saying those are dangerous for first-years. Once a student is more advanced in magical study, plants in Greenhouse One are just an annoyance…”

While Professor Sprout went on, discussing the various plants that students would know about when they were more advanced in magical study, Lily pretended to pay attention to the lecture instead of potting the plant, which was what some other students - who didn’t want to be whacked in the face by something that looked like an eggplant but was much harder - were doing. Instead, she quietly mouthed the words  _ Legilimens  _ and dove into Professor Sprout’s memories.

Professor Sprout’s mind was like a garden - filled with almost nothing but thoughts of various plants. Lily scoffed at this, looking around the inside of her mind - which was much less protected than Flitwick’s. Her eyes soon fell on a small satchel that looked like the item Hagrid had gotten from the vault at Gringotts. She walked over to the stone and picked it up, feeling the power that Sprout imagined it would hold. As she held it, a mat of dark green plant consolidated under her, and she focused on the plant itself. She saw a memory of Professor Sprout explaining her obstacle to Albus Dumbledore.  _ “Devil’s snare,”  _ the Sprout in the memory said. “ _ Voldemort won’t remember or care about this little trap. And it’ll be his downfall.” _

Lily rolled her eyes as she removed herself from Sprout’s memory. Devil’s snare - so all she needed to do to best Sprout’s trap was to look something up in the library? Why did everyone in this war assume everyone else was stupid or useless? Sure, Hermione was the one who typically did research, but Lily was perfectly capable of that herself, thank you very much.

“Oh, but I shouldn’t be going on like this. Pot your plants, chop-chop!” Professor Sprout said a few minutes later, when she realized that the students were still procrastinating by listening to her go on about various wonderful but dangerous kinds of plants. There was a grumbling from the students, but everyone actually started doing work.

***

That Saturday evening, Eva found Lily after dinner on her way to the library. “The Slytherins are having a party… technically only for third year and up, but everyone knows the Lestrange twins and Draco are coming, and of course you’re invited. Would you like to come?”

Lily perked up, and then looked at Eva with annoyance. A Slytherin party, and nobody had even involved her in the planning? 

“Sure… when?” Lily asked, an eyebrow raised. She wasn’t going to ask about bringing Hermione, but if Hermione was interested she sure would be coming. She’d liked what had happened so far when Hermione had interacted with her Slytherins before.

Eva mentioned that the party started at 10pm, and Lily chuckled. She was sure Eva knew she had been able to sneak around places, and perhaps Eva even knew that the invisibility cloak they had acquired for Lily had been used for that purpose. “I’ll be there. And in the future, involve me in planning the parties of the house that I am the Princess of. That’s an order.”

“Yes, My Princess,” Eva gulped.

***

That evening, once most of the Gryffindor first years were heading up to the tower together, at 8:30, Lily pulled Hermione aside. “Want to have some fun again tonight?” she asked with a conspiratorial wink.

“Um… is it against the rules?” Hermione asked, biting her lip.

“For Hogwarts’  Princess and her chosen? Oh, I’m sure it technically is, but you’re not going to get in trouble as long as you’re with me,” Lily said with a smile. “Snape will cover for us.”

“I still feel bad accepting the help of someone who hurt you like that…” Hermione said, her hand lingering on Lily’s.

“Then leave the decisions regarding the morality of everything up to me. I don’t see a problem with it, and I was the one hurt, so you shouldn’t need to. Just have fun with me, Hermione,” Lily said, leaning forward and kissing Hermione’s cheek, tantalizingly close to her lips.

A smile spread across Hermione’s face, and she nodded. “Okay, Princess Lily.”

***

Finally, Lily and Hermione had arrived at the party, and a smiling Eva Rosier greeted them. The party didn’t really look like it had started yet - music was playing quietly, and there was some alcohol out on the tables, but it didn’t look like anyone had wanted to properly start without Lily. 

“It’s nice to see you, Hermione,” said Eva, not missing a beat.

“You… too,” Hermione smiled back at Eva. 

“You took me to a party? A party against the rules?” Hermione hissed at Lily once they were sitting on the sofa.

“Aww, relax, sweetheart, the Princess will show you a good time. Or if she doesn’t, I will.” An ugly older Slytherin boy leered at Hermione.

“Sod off, McLaggen,” Draco said, pulling the boy away. 

“If I don’t? Accio brains…” Lily lazily pointed her wand at the boy, miming a spell with no actual intentions for it to happen.

She was very confused when a jar of actual brains came tumbling down the stairs from the girls’ dorm, that was picked up by a blushing Cassie Lestrange. “Oh. I’m sorry, my Princess, that’s mine…”

“What are you doing with it?” Hermione asked, approaching Cassie cautiously. 

“Oh! Hermione!” Desi grabbed Hermione by her arm and dragged her over to Cassie, who had started talking excitedly about her experiment. 

***

Later during the party, Lily was feeling happily buzzed from the alcohol that had been so graciously snuck in by some of the prefects who were of legal age. One of them had tried to avoid letting her consume any at all, but Eva had directed her to some elf-made wine that was sweet and good. Now, Lily sat with Hermione on the couch again, running her fingers through Hermione’s hair. 

“You’re my favorite,” Lily said with a smile. 

“Yay. I’m my Princess’s favorite,” Hermione was blushing.

“I think everyone should see how much you are my favorite,” Lily said, pulling Hermione up, who wobbled a little bit on her legs. 

“Everyone! I think Hermione is amazing, and as Princess of Slytherin House I declare her the  _ best, prettiest  _ girl here,” Lily yelled, attracting the attention of everyone at the party. Draco’s face fell a little, but he quickly fixed his expression so it didn’t look like he was being rude to his Princess. The twins shared an uncertain look with Eva, wondering if they should stop Lily from embarrassing herself.

Fortunately, Lily was more about claiming Hermione for her own than embarrassing herself tonight. She pushed Hermione back against the sofa, and the younger girl let out a squeak as Lily grabbed her face and kissed her, letting her hands wander down to Hermione’s skirt, where she touched Hermione’s thigh gently. She figured touching the same area that had been so sensitive to pain in a  _ nice  _ way would be a good idea. It was, which she discovered when Hermione let out a small happy gasp and responded more avidly to Lily’s kiss, pressing up against her Princess.

“Would you like… a room…?” Eva asked cautiously.

Lily just ignored her, hands flitting all over Hermione’s body, wanting to claim what was hers. “My Hermione,” she whispered into the Gryffindor’s mouth.

“My Princess,” Hermione blushed, smiling. 


	35. The Wrong Path

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TW for torture (sort of), dissociative experiences and sexual assault in this chapter, but I tried to keep it as non-triggering as reasonable.

The next morning, Lily blinked awake in the Slytherin second year girls’ dormitory, where Cassie and Desi Lestrange had decided to share a bed so a goofy and drunk Hermione and Lily could also share and didn’t have to go back to the Gryffindor common room. She looked over at Hermione, still sleeping peacefully, in jealousy. Surely Hermione didn’t have a massive headache.

“I feel awful,” she complained to Cassie, who was sitting in the bed next to hers, thumbing through a book.

Cassie raised an eyebrow. “You do know that you can fix that, right?”

“Huh?” Lily was confused. 

“Professor Snape. Most people can’t, but you can. Just order him to get you some hangover potion, that will fix the problem pretty fast. You can probably even get some for Hermione there, if you want…”

Lily beamed, and stood up, flat-out ignoring how her headache worsened when she stood up. “Great. Keep an eye on Hermione for me - I’m going to see my  _ favorite _ professor.”

***

A grumpy Professor Snape was not very happy with Lily’s demand for hangover potion, but went to find it in his stores right away. Lily was just glad he hadn’t decided to be  _ really  _ stupid and cast doubt on whether her father would approve. She doubted that James Potter would have approved… but he wasn’t really her father now, anyway. Her father was okay with her casting the Cruciatus Curse - surely standard age restrictions on things didn’t apply to the Dark Princess.

“How often do you plan on doing this, my Princess?” he asked, upon returning with her potion and another vial for Hermione.

“Probably whenever it’s not going to disrupt my studies, and I can convince Hermione to come party with me,” Lily said, slipping off the table in Snape’s office. He looked at her, his mouth in a round  _ O,  _ as she walked towards the door.

“Oh, you didn’t expect me to be spending time with a “mudblood”? Well, that “mudblood” is a member of the House of Black now, and is more interesting company than you ever were or will be,” she said with a wink as she closed the door. There. Let him think what he wanted about what sort of company she kept with Hermione. She hadn’t done the same exact thing with Hermione last night that Snape had done to her, but she really didn’t think she would object. Besides, what sort of right did a slimy Potions teacher have to know about the Dark Princess’s romantic life?

***

Eventually, Lily and Hermione had both had their potion and it had kicked in. The twins had brought them breakfast in bed, claiming to the House Elves that they had two friends who were sick and couldn’t handle the noise in the Great Hall due to headaches and miscellaneous other ailments. Thankfully, the two girls were actually all better.

Technically, no one knew that they had snuck out of Gryffindor the previous night, so they just planned to head to the library and look like they had woken up early and decided to be very studious. Lily found this funny, but also knew that it would be a good opportunity to look up Devil’s Snare. She hadn’t found it in any of the standard textbooks for Hogwarts students yet. 

They managed to get to the library undetected, thanks to the Invisibility Cloak, and found an area that was fairly unoccupied in the library. Once the two girls had sat down, Hermione kept on pacing.

“Is everything okay?” Lily asked.

“It’s just… breaking the rules is kind of exciting, you know?” Hermione said with a happy smile. “I never really thought it would be so  _ interesting. _ ”

“Stick with me, and it will be,” Lily said, and went back to combing through the index of the Herbology book she had gotten out from the stacks.

Lily saw a blush on Hermione’s face, and was tempted to Legilimens her to figure out what she was blushing about, but decided against it. Somehow, it felt wrong to cast that spell on Hermione when all she’d been using it for previously was to figure out information so she could get the Stone - and she had a feeling that Hermione would notice magic was being cast on her.

Her contemplation was broken when a bearded wizard rounded the corner and smiled when he saw Lily. Lily smiled back and waved, although on the inside she was seething. Why was  _ Dumbledore  _ here, and how had he known she would be in the library? She hoped it was a coincidence, but doubted it really was one.

“Miss Potter. It’s nice to see you, I was looking for you. Please come with me, we need to discuss something in my office,” Dumbledore said.

Lily blinked at him and stood up, trying to calm herself down. Surely Dumbledore wouldn’t cast any horrible spells on a student at Hogwarts, and especially wouldn’t cast those spells on the Girl Who Lived, right? Her father’s preparation for the Cruciatus Curse, rather than making her confident, made her anxious in this case, as she realized how little she knew about defensive magic.

“Bye, Lily! See you later!” Hermione said, waving goodbye to Lily with a cheerful smile, and either not noticing Lily’s anxiety or not wanting to make it obvious that she had.

***

Lily walked in silence with Dumbledore to the office, not wanting to say anything or give away anything about what she was worried Dumbledore might have found out. After all, now that she knew Legilimency existed and that she was capable of doing it as a daughter of one of the most ancient wizarding families, she was certain Dumbledore would be capable of it.

She kept her mind a careful blank as she sat down across from Dumbledore in his office, and he looked at her with a warm smile. “It’s nice to see you again, Miss Potter.”

“You can call me Lily,” Lily said, going out on a limb and hoping it would make Dumbledore feel that she trusted him.

“Alright… Lily,” Dumbledore tested out the word, as if he was almost scared to say her name like people were scared to say her fathers’. “The fact is, I’m concerned for you.”

“Concerned?” Lily asked, with her best innocent wide-eyed gaze.

He sighed. “Yes, Lily. A girl in Gryffindor noted your absence from the dorm in the middle of the night, and this is not the first time this has happened with either you  _ or  _ your friend Hermione. Where are you going in the middle of the night? I certainly hope you’re not going off campus,”

Making a mental note to be more careful about her sneaking out in the future, Lily let her face fall and look sad. “I sometimes have insomnia, okay? I worry about things, like the fact that my parents died defending the wizarding world and my destiny is to destroy Voldemort but not if he kills me first. It’s a little disturbing, to say the least!”

Dumbledore sighed. “Perhaps I should not have told you about your destiny yet.”

“I was bound to find it out eventually, right?” Lily shrugged. “Better to know now and be prepared than find out seventh year, or something.”

Dumbledore nodded. “I suppose that is true. However, I must warn you about something.”

Lily looked at Dumbledore, blinking at him.

“There is a chance, that if you come face to face with Voldemort, he will offer you the opportunity to join his side. Do not do that, Lily. He may be skilled with magic, but any skill that he has is negated by how dark he is. You will never truly have a good life on the Dark Side, whether it is by siding with Voldemort or befriending Slytherins,” Dumbledore told her.

“Wow,” Lily said, feeling a lump in her throat. She was  _ not  _ going to cry. “Okay, yeah, I understand.”

***

There was nowhere suitably private at Hogwarts for the Dark Princess to cry, so Lily refused to cry at all after her conversation with Dumbledore. It was unreasonable to cry anyway. She knew Dumbledore hated Slytherins. It wasn’t that that made her want to cry. It was the fact that someone like that was the headmaster of Hogwarts, and in charge of educating all of Magic’s Children.

That evening, she was called again to her father’s side, and as soon as she sat down in his office, he held out a small vial of potion.

“It’s the cure to your muscle ailment. Take it,” he instructed her.

Lily took the cure with shaking hands and drank it, wondering how different she would feel. Almost instantly, she felt magic spread through her body, warming and cooling it at the same time. It almost felt like magic was knitting itself into her muscles. Maybe it was.

“Try standing,” her father said with a small smile.

Lily smiled back at her father and stood up from the chair. She didn’t even know everything that had been wrong with her, but everything felt so much better now. She stood steadily without any effort, and it actually felt like her muscles knew what they were doing for once in her life. “This is… amazing,” Lily said, testing what spinning around felt like. It actually worked! 

“Now you can be the graceful Princess you were always meant to be,” her father said.

Lily blushed, and sat back down. “Thank you, Father.” She thought back to her conversation with Dumbledore earlier that day, and gulped. “I should probably tell you-”

“I already know,” he answered solemnly. “And it’s time for the final stage of your Resiliency Training.”

***

Lily was, maybe, overconfident on her way to the magical training room. Sure, it was a torture curse, but all of the pain she’d ever experienced before had been made worse by the existence of her muscle problem. Perhaps because of that, she didn’t focus very hard on distracting herself from the pain of the Cruciatus Curse, and toppled over when she was hit square in the chest by a blast of red light. As she felt the pain of the torture curse, tears that she’d repressed earlier threatened to roll down her cheeks, but she kept them back. Once the curse had already hit full blast, her father clearly wasn’t going to stop it and try again, so she knew she needed to ignore the pain. That was harder when it was still going on, though. Lily attempted to fight against the clenching of her muscles, knowing that would just make everything worse, and once that had gone reasonably well she focused on further detaching herself from what was going on. It was excruciating, slow process, but she was not going to  _ fail  _ the last Resiliency Training, when her father was clearly so worried about what would happen if she didn’t. 

Lily was paying no attention to anything at all, despite the fact that her eyes were open and she should have theoretically been feeling everything. When the curse finally went away, she was hardly aware that it had, unaware when her father talked to her, unaware when he put a gentle hand on her knee, and unaware when he flicked her cheek in a way that should have been painful. She was vaguely aware of him getting up and stalking around the training room, but it didn’t feel important. Nothing felt important other than ignoring everything that was happening.

She barely processed anything when another spell hit her, completely unable to even identify what it was, until she felt a tapping on the inside of her head, for the lack of a better word. “Lily. Come back to me,” her father’s voice echoed, and she felt herself returning to awareness. Her head spun and she blinked, before collapsing in her father’s arms. 

“Do you know what you’re thinking about?” her father asked, looking at her with a concerned expression. Lily was about to shake her head, but then it hit her. The feeling of an unnatural wetness between her legs, and hair brushing up against her thighs, then something that clearly didn’t fit being shoved inside her. She shuddered, tears running down her face. 

“Snape.” The word was less of an accusation than a whisper, because after the day she’d had, Lily didn’t think she had any fight left in her.

“Wrong,” her father hissed, then began mumbling Latin words while turning his wand in a complicated pattern above her head.

“Why did I think about it?” she asked him.

“Your brain decided to associate what you did in response to the Cruciatus Curse with what you did in response to  _ that man’s  _ violation of your body. It won’t happen again,” he reassured her, once he had completed the spell.

Lily’s head felt mysteriously light, and unlike usual, dark memories of her experiences with the Dursleys didn’t linger in the back of her mind. “What… what will happen?”

“Your mind won’t fight against you. It will do what you need to do,” her father told her, putting a soft hand on her shoulder.

Lily’s muscles ached, but she could ignore  _ that _ . What bothered her more was the implication of what she would need to do. How many times would she need to resist the Cruciatus Curse?


	36. Justice

That Monday morning after classes, Lily stormed into the Gryffindor common room, in less of a  _ mood  _ than she seemed to be but hamming it up for the purposes of having someone defend her. “Who the  _ hell  _ was enough of a traitor to Gryffindor and  _ me  _ to tell teachers that I wasn’t in the dorms all night?”

Colin Creevey looked up from a game of wizard’s chess with Ron with a shocked expression on his face. “Someone told on the  _ Princess?” _

The Weasley twins and Ron weren’t very happy either. Fred and George looked at each other, and then stepped out into the middle of the common room.

“Being a prankster and breaking a few rules is what defines a Gryffindor-” 

“- and is especially important for the Girl Who Lived -”

“- so we’ll be helping her figure out who did it!”

“And if we don’t figure out who it was none of you will like the smell of the common room tomorrow,” Fred said with a big beam.

Members of the House began looking at each other nervously. “A house is a family! You don’t betray your family!” Parvati Patil burst out, probably hoping to dodge the blame.

The room fell quiet then after that. A young girl from Lily’s dorm, who Lily recognized as Eloise Midgen, stepped up to the Weasley twins. “It was me.”

“Don’t worry, Lily, we’ll deal with her,” George said with a wink, and grabbed her. “Come on, firstie, we’re going to the Owlery!”

“I don’t want to know what they have waiting for them there,” Hermione said with an eye roll, but seemed amused at the dispensation of justice. 

***

The next day, Lily was in her Transfiguration class, but she wasn’t focusing very well on the assignment in front of her. Figuring out how to Legilimens her Transfiguration professor seemed more important. Observing how shamefaced Eloise Midgen was around Lily was also amusing - the girl was very cagey.

“So, what happened?” Lily had asked at breakfast that morning.

“I got painted. With invisible paint that only smelled to me. It’ll last a while. I’m sorry for telling on you, my Princess,” Eloise had responded with a whisper. It seemed like she was trying to avoid opening her mouth much at all, and Lily couldn’t blame her considering that she was wearing something smelly.

Lily studied McGonagall, trying to judge for any openings in her teaching style that might lend to her mind wandering and make it easier for Lily to Legilimens her. Sure, she’d Legilimensed Hagrid in private, but McGonagall was the head of Gryffindor. She was surely pretty skilled with defensive magic. 

As Lily was contemplating what she would do - and how she would do it fast - a House Elf ran into the classroom, panting. 

“He Who Must Not Be Named - He’s invaded the castle - The defense has been breached - Dumbledore says send the students to the towers!” the House Elf panted, and then collapsed on the floor.

“Really, they’re so desperate to serve, it’s not very nice to take advantage of them like that... “ Hermione started saying, but Ron cut her off. “He’s fighting against  _ He Who Must Not Be Named,  _ Hermione, I think Dumbledore can take advantage of anyone he wants!”

Professor McGonagall was just looking at the students, and had started casting jets of magic at them to make them get up from your seats. “Well, you heard him! Gryffindors with me, please, Hufflepuffs follow until we see another teacher!”

“Professor McGonagall, how will you defend all of us against He Who Must Not Be Named on your own…” Colin Creevey asked, running up to McGonagall.

“He’s not in the hallways,” McGonagall said, her mouth set in a firm line. “I know exactly where he is.”

_ The Stone.  _ Lily hadn’t felt a hint of her father’s presence at Hogwarts, and she was sure her scar would have detected it, so it would have to be someone else. And the way the House Elf had talked, it was clearly not just a curious student who had stumbled into the presence of Fluffy, it was clearly someone who wanted the Stone and knew how to get it…

_ Snape.  _ Lily seethed as she walked with the other Gryffindors to the common room, so much that Hermione came up to her with a concerned expression. “Lily, are you okay?”

“The man who killed my parents has invaded Hogwarts. Of course I’m not okay.” Lily snapped, trying to show the right image to anyone who was listening and would doubt the Gryffindor Princess having a foul mood for any other reason.

Hermione nodded. “I’m sorry…” she said. 

“It’s not your fault, Hermione,” Lily responded, immediately regretting snapping. Hermione was hers, she should’ve chosen a different tone of voice than anger at  _ Hermione. _

***

All of the Gryffindors were sent up to the tower, and Lily stood with her wand out, pretending to be hypervigilant, and then leaned over to whisper to Hermione.

“Hermione, it’s never been more important to obey me unquestionably than it is today. On the count of three, I need you to stun the other girls and leave the dorm with me under the Invisibility Cloak. I’ll explain later, but are you with me?”

Hermione nodded, and then three counts later Stunned Parvati Patil while Lily Stunned Eloise and Lavender at the same time, and they headed down to the exit of the common room, under the invisibility cloak. 

“What are we doing?” Hermione asked, anxiously, as they roamed the empty corridors of Hogwarts. “Or really, why are we doing it?”

“It’s not Voldemort invading Hogwarts. I would be able to tell from my scar. It’s Snape, trying to steal something that is very important to Dumbledore. I just need to make sure Snape is gone from the dungeons, before I assume it really was him and maybe run after someone who’s prophesied to kill me.” Lily explained in a hurry. The moving staircases were really annoying right now…

“Wait, He Who Must Not Be Named is prophesied to kill you?” Hermione asked, gasping. “Lily, I thought you were the Girl Who Lived!”

“Neither can live while the other survives,” Lily answered as they rushed down to the dungeons. “Hermione, one of us is prophesied to kill the other, and it might not be me doing the killing.”

***

Of course, that wasn’t the only thing Lily was doing down in the dungeons. Once she saw that Snape was absent, she turned to Hermoine. “I’m going to go get Eva Rosier.”

Hermione’s mouth opened in shock. “Eva… Rosier? Why?”

_ Because I have no idea what is in McGonagall’s chamber or what Dumbledore did to guard the Stone, and I want to be as prepared as possible…  _ “Because Eva knows Snape better than we do. She’ll know his weaknesses,” Lily answered.

Hermoine seemed to accept this. “Use the Cloak,” Lily said. “I’m a Princess in Slytherin too, no-one will question my presence in their common room.”

Hermione nodded, and put the Cloak over herself as Lily made her way to the fifth-floor dormitory. Eva was there, sitting with her friends. “My Princess! Do you know anything about what’s happening? Is our Lord really in the castle?” Eva asked, looking at Lily with wide eyes.

“I’ll tell you as we go,” Lily said, beckoning Eva. 

Eva nodded, and rushed back with Lily to the outside of the common room, where Hermione uncovered herself. “My Princess?” Eva looked at Lily with confusion.

“Hermione’s the brightest witch in Gryffindor. She’ll help us. We need to find the Stone before Snape does,” Lily explained.

“I’ll help in any way I can,” Eva said solemnly.

 


	37. Good Gryffindors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lily, Hermione and Eva start trying to find the Stone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally updated! The book will be finishing soon; my heck brain just decided it wanted to try to kick my ass.

The three girls snuck out of the dungeons, hidden under the invisibility cloak. “Eva, can you take us to the seventh floor?” Lily whispered, figuring that Eva would know what to do considering that she was a fifth year and knew her way around the puzzle of the moving staircases.

“Yeah. Of course,” Eva whispered back, and started directing Lily and Hermione to the right staircases.

Hermione looked at Eva in awe after she successfully maneuvered the trio to the right location on the seventh floor. “How did you  _ do  _ that?” she asked.

“There’s a pattern,” Eva said, shrugging. “Once you attend Hogwarts for a few years you start to get the hang of Dumbledore’s ridiculousness…”

_ Especially if you’re in Slytherin,  _ Lily thought. Hermione didn’t seem to get the deeper meaning of what Eva had said, just nodding. 

“We’re here,” Lily said, lifting the Cloak off herself and stepping towards the door. “I’ll go first,”

“Lily, no!” Hermione said in shock, stepping up next to her. “You shouldn’t be the one who goes first.”

Lily looked at Hermione in confusion, and Hermione mumbled, “... I’m the least valuable. I should go first.”

Lily’s eyes blazed with anger. “Hermione Granger, you are a descendant of the House of Black, a brilliant witch, and most importantly, my best friend. You’re not the least valuable one here.” She paused to consider what Hermione had said. “But I suppose you have a point. Eva is the most experienced person here, so she should check what is going on behind that door before we go in.” Of course, Lily knew exactly what was behind the door - the massive three-headed dog - but Hermione couldn’t know that she knew, so she had to play it like she didn’t. Damn it, this whole Dark Princess thing was frustrating sometimes.

Hermione looked at Lily with wide eyes as Eva walked to the door, and Lily could tell that her mind was trying to process the fact that she, a hypothetically Muggle-born first-year, wasn’t the least valuable in the group, despite her blood status. Lily could also tell that she was wondering if she would be the least valuable if she  _ wasn’t  _ a descendant of the House of Black, and really had no connection to any important wizarding family. 

“And no, you wouldn’t suddenly become less important if you weren’t a descendant of the House of Black. Don’t be ridiculous,” Lily snapped, doing her best to reassure Hermione without letting her know that she’d been doing Legilimency on her.

“It’s fine,” Eva said, popping back through the door. “Just… Be quiet. And don’t freak out too badly,”

Lily nodded, and reached out a hand for Hermione, who took it gratefully, giving Lily a small smile, and they walked through the door.

When she saw Fluffy, Hermione stiffened, only relaxing once Lily squeezed her hand. The three-headed beast lay with his head on the floor of the room, snoring and drooling a lake of some white substance, with his tongue hanging out through two rows of sharp teeth. 

“I have… a feeling this was not how the challenge was supposed to be,” Hermione whispered, pointing to the harp magically playing itself in the corner. 

“I guess we just got lucky,” Lily whispered back.

“Quiet!” Eva hissed as one of Fluffy’s heads blinked slowly.

“Sorry,” Hermione whispered, blushing.

Eva, hand trembling slightly, reached down to the iron handle on the trap door that one of Fluffy’s gigantic paws was on top of, and after making eye contact with Lily to confirm the action, slowly started lifting the trap door up. Fluffy’s paw slid off the trap door, causing one of the heads of the dog to snort and send more snot flying across the room, which landed on Eva’s robes. Eva made a dissatisfied expression while motioning for Lily and Hermione to come. 

“I’ll go first,” Lily said, and slid through the trap door to the next room. 

When her feet made contact with something, it wasn’t the ground. It was a thick mat of green - presumably, the Devil’s Snare that Professor Sprout had talked about in her memory. 

As Lily settled down, waiting for Hermione and Eva, she heard a terrified Hermione squeaking “What do we do?” and realized that the harp wasn’t playing anymore. 

“Um…  _ Stupefy vicesimus!”  _ Lily heard a panicked Eva scream, and with a burst of purple light, Fluffy was spasming and choking. A minute later, Eva and Hermione landed in the green plant, too.

“What was that spell?” Hermione asked, curious. 

“Oh, uh, an overpowered modification of the Stupefy spell. Maybe don’t tell anyone in Gryffindor I used that… it’s technically dark…”

“You were defending us. Of course I won’t!” Hermione said, scoffing, as if the very idea was repugnant. 

Eva smiled gently at Hermione. “Well, I guess you two aren’t the most uptight Gryffindors I’ve ever met.”

“Oh, no, that would be Percy Weasley,” Lily responded, laughing.

Eva laughed along, until she stopped and her face turned scared. “Lily, your legs!” 

Lily raised an eyebrow, and then looked down, which caused her to squeak. She was sinking into the green mat of plant, the tendrils hugging her legs. When she looked lower than Eva and Hermione’s faces, she could tell the plant was doing the same to them, it was just less advanced than the plant grabbing her. 

“Devil’s snare!” Lily cried out, in what she hoped sounded to Hermione like a spontaneous recognition of the plant and not a calculated reaction. “I read about it in a book in the library. I don’t remember what to do about it though…”

“Well, this is great,” Hermione said, shaking her head. “We’ll die here, suffocated by a  _ plant _ !”

“It’s okay,” Eva answered. “It doesn’t like light. Do you want to have the honor of beating this one, my Princess?” Eva’s lower lip trembled in the darkness as she asked the question, and Lily could tell that she was worrying about what Lily’s reaction to her hissed “quiet!” earlier once they were away from someone who didn’t know about Lily’s status as the Princess of the Dark Side.

“Sure,” Lily answered, and pointed her wand towards the center of the plant, which was in the middle of her, Eva and Hermione.  _ “Lumos Maxima. _ ” 

White light flooded the cavern, and the entire plant seemed to flinch away from the light streaming from Lily’s wand. Lily felt the pressure on her legs release, and along with Eva and Hermione, she was dropped through the plants and into the next room.

“Well, that wasn’t hard at all,” Hermione said with a smile. “Really,  _ these  _ are the defenses set up by important wizards to guard something  _ this  _ important?”

“Which is good news for us… but also good news for Snape,” Eva said with a serious expression.

“Especially since he made one of them,” Lily said.

“Wait, what?” Hermione asked. “How did you know that?”

“He told me he was working on some important, serious project. I kind of assume it was this,” Lily said with a shrug. 

“That makes sense,” Eva said, covering for Lily. 

“I guess so,” Hermione answered, but Lily could tell she was becoming suspicious. All the more reason to get this over with as quickly as possible… 


	38. Pawns and Knights

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The trio faces the key chamber and the human chess board.

“Hopefully nothing here will immediately try to attack us,” Hermione said grimly as the three girls landed on the floor of the next chamber.

“I don’t think anything here is trying to do that?” Lily said, as she looked up. Flying through the air, almost peacefully, were what looked like a hundred different keys, resembling multi-colored birds. As Lily observed them, she felt something firm materialize in her hand. Upon looking down, she saw that it was a Nimbus 2000 broom - and similar brooms had materialized in Hermione and Eva’s hands. 

Eva ran to open the door on the other side of the room, and to nobody’s surprise, it was locked. She appeared to be running through the  _ Alohamora  _ spell as well as several other different ones, while Hermione looked on with interest. None of them seemed to work, and in fact, several of them attracted various keys from the ceiling to come down and stab Eva. “No easy way to get out of this one, then, I guess,” a slightly disheartened Eva said, walking back over to Lily with several scratches on her face that were bleeding. 

“Eva, are you okay?” Hermione ran back to Lily after Eva, pulling her wand out. “Do you need healing spells?”

As Hermione fussed over Eva, Lily looked up to the top of the room, where among many other keys, one that looked like it would fit the lock at the end of the room floated. One of its bright blue wings was broken, which Lily, despite feeling silly, had a stab of anger at. It was beautiful magic, almost  _ alive _ , and Snape clearly hadn’t cared about preserving its beauty. She mounted her broom, and as soon as she did, the keys started attacking her just like they had attacked Eva at the door. Fueled with her anger at Snape, Lily ignored the keys attacking her and continued to fly after the silver key with a broken blue wing. She’d always had a high pain tolerance thanks to living with the Dursleys, and Resiliency Training had only made it better, so she was able to ignore the keys trying to stab her as she flew after her target. 

Finally, her hands closed around the silver key. The other keys seemed to only increase their frantic efforts to get her to fail, stabbing the hand that was holding the key

Seeing Lily coming down from the ceiling, Hermione clapped excitedly. “GO LILY!” she yelled, and then blushed.

“Thanks, love,” Lily said, descending and kissing Hermione’s cheek, causing her to blush. Eva laughed.

Now that Lily was on the ground and had dropped her broom, the keys seemed less focused on attacking her. She walked to the door and unlocked it. “Come on!” she said, ushering Eva and a very blushing Hermione through.

***

Upon entering the next room, the door from the key room slammed behind the trio, plunging them into darkness. “Lumos,” Lily whispered, and her wand lit up for a second but soon faltered and stopped. It felt as if there was an oppressive magic in the air, holding Lily down and keeping her from using her magic to light up the room.

“I’m… scared,” Hermione admitted quietly, her hand finding Lily’s in the darkness.

“It’ll be okay. We’ve figured everything out so far,” Eva reassured Hermione. “Our Princess knows what to do,”

Lily’s heart was beating fast. Unlike the other rooms, she actually had  _ no  _ idea what was facing them in this room. Snape’s room wasn’t dark, so she could tell that this was a challenge set up by Professor McGonagall - who she hadn’t figured out how to Legilimens prior to going through the trap door. Somehow, she had a feeling that the Head of Gryffindor would have the hardest challenge other than the one at the end that was set up by Dumbledore himself. 

“Well, all we can do is go forward,” Lily said, and hoping she wasn’t making a huge mistake, walked forward.

Lily heard her shoes stepping on the tile underfoot, and held her breath. Surely a puzzle set up by Professor McGonagall couldn’t just be navigating a room in the dark. 

When she tried to move forward more, however, she found herself stuck. “Eva? Hermione?” she called out, her voice shrill in the darkness. 

There were more loud sounds on the tiles, but all Lily could do was twist her body around helplessly in the darkness. Finally, the sounds stopped, and Lily heard a crackling sound.

Torches lit up the room, burning and forming a line on the left and right walls. Lily gasped as the room was revealed. They were all standing on a giant chess board. On the left and right side of Lily there were pawns, and behind her was a giant king piece. They were standing in the middle of a giant version of one of those wizard chess sets that Ron was so obsessed with. Eva and Hermione were each standing in the spaces that had been vacated by the two white knights, which were now guarding the door on the other side of the room. 

“Well, clearly whoever designed this chess set doesn’t understand anything,” Eva said, rolling her eyes. “Lily isn’t a pawn.”

“Maybe to Dumbledore, I am,” Lily muttered.

“What?” Hermione called, from the other side of the room.

“Nothing, Hermione,” Lily told her. 

“Maybe you should move first?” Eva said, nervous.

“... E4?” Lily said, doubt in her voice. All of a sudden, she was free to move. She walked forward two spaces.

A black pawn moved forward two spaces as well, countering her move. 

“You can take it?” Hermione suggested.

“How do I do  _ that?”  _ Lily asked. She then noticed the axe that had appeared next to her. Taking it as a hint, Lily shielded her eyes and sunk her axe into the black pawn. With a cracking sound, it came down, slicing through the pawn and shedding debris everywhere. 


	39. Sacrifices

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rest of the human chess game, and the potions room.

The game moved on, with Lily killing another pawn that tried to stop her from moving across the board. Many other pawns were taken by various pieces, at Eva’s command. Eventually, the stakes became higher, with a black bishop threatening to take Hermione. Heart pounding, Lily instructed one of the white knights to take it. She didn't know what would happen if one of the  _ real  _ people got taken by a piece on the board, and she didn't want to have to see. Especially since wizard chess was… very violent, and this game was anything but an exception.

Lily wouldn’t have thought her chess skills were good enough, but to her surprise, she realized she had been progressing further and further on the board, and she was standing one spot before the last spot on the board - the spot that would enable her to become a queen. And it was white’s turn to move. She rotated on her square to look over at Hermione and Eva. “... Should I?” 

“I don’t see any reason why not,” Eva answered, and Hermione said “Yes!”

Taking a deep breath, Lily said, “E8”, and found herself able to move forward.  When she stepped onto the square, she felt everything vibrate, as gold sparks flew around her.  _ Please don’t tell me I’m actually turning into a chess piece,  _ she thought. When the sparks stopped flying, however, she looked the same as before. 

“It was probably making sure you have the ability to move as a queen on the board, as opposed to just a pawn,” Hermione said. 

“Well, geez, that would have been a useful explanation  _ before  _ now!” Lily said, narrowing her eyes at Hermione a little. 

“Sorry…” Hermione said, embarrassed, and then cringed as one of the black knights buried its axe in a bishop near her. 

Lily narrowed her eyes, and saw that there was a diagonal path to the square that the black knight now occupied. She said the name of the square, and was soon able to walk down a path to the knight. She buried her axe in it. 

“My hero!” Hermione said with a goofy smile. 

“Looks like I’ll need to be again…” Lily said, as a black rook slid down the board, positioning itself two spots away from Hermione. She’d been “protected” in a strange way by the presence of the knight, but now, the rook was trying to take her. Lily said the name of the spot again, and was able to destroy the rook.

“Yeah, this kind of thing makes you wonder what happens to  _ people  _ who get bashed by one of the axes…” Eva said, biting her lip.

“I mean, stone, head, bam, out like a light. At least that’s what I’d guess happens,” Lily said. 

***

The black pieces continued their onslaught. Hermione managed to get rid of the second black bishop, but the black queen was causing problems - so many problems, in fact, that it eventually had Hermione and Eva in a fork, with the only solution seeming to be either Hermione or Eva moving, leaving the other “piece” vulnerable to attack. And the black queen hadn’t been holding back.

“You can move, Eva,” Hermione said, her lower lip quivering. “You probably have a better chance of getting Lily through the rest of the rooms safely.”

“NO!” Lily yelled, startling Hermione, who flinched. “I meant what I said before. You’re important, Hermione. I’m not going to risk you potentially  _ dying  _ from an axe-crazy black queen. You’re moving, and that’s that.”

“Yes, My Princess,” Eva answered, although she was now shaking. Hermione looked at Lily with big eyes, clearly amazed that she’d chosen her over Eva. Maybe even chosen her over Eva to  _ live.  _ But she obediently moved out of the way of the black queen. 

Lily could swear she saw a smile on the chess pieces’ face as it moved in, striking Eva on the head with its axe. 

Hermione let out a wail of horror as Eva fell, blood spurting from her head. “Kill it, Lily!”

“ _ Duh,  _ love,” Lily said, hoping that the pet name would calm down the clearly distressed Hermione at least a little. She did.

***

After killing the black queen, it was pathetically easy to corner and kill the king. A shaking Hermione walked out of the chess room into the next room, next to an equally anxious but not showing it Lily. If she had killed Eva, what would her father think? He’d warded the Black mansion so that people who weren’t from a notable blood line would die if they entered, and he’d been very blase about the possibility of Hermione dying had she not been from the House of Black. Surely a pureblood witch in her fifth year would have been thought as a less appropriate sacrifice than a muggleborn in her first year. Either way, Lily was glad she’d done it - but she didn’t know if she would be once her father heard about it. 

The new room was Snape’s potion room, which Lily knew exactly how to pass, but she knew Hermione would have no idea. “The magic in this room doesn’t like me,” Hermione said in a quiet voice, after flames lit up both doorways. 

“It’s Snape’s. Does this really surprise anyone?” Lily said, indicating the potions on the table. 

“No, not really,” Hermione admitted. She walked up to the scroll on the table, which unfolded itself at her touch, revealing a riddle in rhyme form. 

 

_ “Danger lies before you, while safety lies behind, _ __   
_ Two of us will help you, whichever you would find, _ __   
_ One among us seven will let you move ahead, _ __   
_ Another will transport the drinker back instead, _ __   
_ Two among our number hold only nettle wine, _ __   
_ Three of us are killers, waiting hidden in line. _ __   
_ Choose, unless you wish to stay here for evermore, _ __   
_ To help you in your choice, we give you these clues four: _ __   
_ First, however slyly the poison tries to hide _ __   
_ You will always find some on nettle wine’s left side; _ __   
_ Second, different are those who stand at either end, _ __   
_ But if you would move onwards, neither is your friend; _ __   
_ Third, as you see clearly, all are different size, _ __   
_ Neither dwarf nor giant holds death in their insides; _ __   
_ Fourth, the second on the left and the second on the right _ _   
_ __ Are twins once you taste them, though different at first sight.”

 

“Oh, this is easy,” Hermione said with a smile, as she looked at the lineup of potions. “The second on the left and the second on the right are clearly nettle wine!”

“Why?” Lily asked, squinting at the bottles and trying to make it seem like she had no idea what the solution was.

“Because the biggest one can’t be poison, and I really don’t think the two potions for going forward and backward would be identical,” Hermione answered.

“Yeah, that actually makes sense… what would I do without you, Hermione?” Lily said with a smile.

“Be stuck here  _ forevermore…”  _ Hermione said, wiggling her fingers, as Lily laughed. The moment became more somber, however, when Hermione picked out the potion for going forward and the one for going backward from the lineup, and handed the one for going forward to Lily. “It has to be you,” she said. 

“Yeah,” Lily said in a quiet voice, looking down at the small blue potion in her hand. That wasn’t even a question. And it didn’t seem smart to risk splitting the potion - it might not work properly.

“I guess we’re lucky that Eva…” Hermione couldn’t complete the sentence. She got choked up. “Anyway, I’ll take the purple one and go find someone who can help Eva.”

“Yeah,” Lily nodded. “You go first. I want to make sure you’re okay.”

“Yes, My Princess,” Hermione answered, and drank her potion.

“Do you feel okay?” Lily asked.

“Weird, but okay,” Hermione said, and then walked through the purple flames, leaving Lily alone in the potions room. 

All alone, Lily allowed herself to feel the rage that had been growing in her all evening. One of  _ her  _ Death Eaters had tried to find the Sorcerer's’ Stone before her - to ruin her success at a task that her father had set her.  _ His  _ recklessness had resulted in Eva being knocked out, and possibly dying. 

And she was going to  _ break _ him. 


	40. Betrayal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Dark Princess faces down an errant Death Eater.

When Lily stepped into the final chamber, it was on fire. 

She looked through the flames and saw exactly who she’d expected - Severus Snape. He was standing in front of the Mirror of Erised, casting curse after curse at it in attempt to break it.

Lily scoffed, and then said, projecting her voice throughout the room, “That’s not going to work, you know.”

Snape startled, and turned around. “My Princess,” he said, dropping to one knee, with a shocked face. 

“Yeah, and  _ that’s  _ not going to work either,” Lily said, scoffing again. Somehow, instead of scaring her, the fire in the room only made her more confident. It was made out of magic, and she was the Crown Princess of Magic. It was hers as much as its caster was.

“My Princess, I was simply….”

“Disobeying a direct order given to you by your Master to help me in finding the Sorcerers’ Stone?” Lily asked in a sharp tone. “Attempting to steal the Stone so you could have glory for yourself… or to keep it away from your Master and his Princess?”

Guilt became apparent in Snape’s eyes, and Lily realized with a jolt that  _ neither  _ of the two decisions she had assumed the Potions master might have been making were actually what he was trying to do. 

“You were… Stealing the Stone so you could appear as a hero to Albus Dumbledore, as the one who stopped the Dark Lord’s secret heiress from stealing the stone?” she hissed. And she didn’t even have to wait for his confirmation - his face told it all. “ _ CRUCIO!”  _ she yelled out, directing the spell at him. 

The fire seemed to gather around her and channel her energy as she cursed him. “You are  _ pathetic.  _ You’re  _ disgusting.  _ Do you really think that Albus Dumbledore would want  _ you  _ after he saw your memories of interacting with me?”

A cruel smile spread across Snape’s face, and Lily could tell he was going to try to say something to unhinge her, despite the torture he was under. “He had your father in the same way I had you.”

Lily’s heart skipped, and her curse faltered. “What do you mean?”

“I think you know exactly what I mean, Miss  _ Potter, _ ” Snape said, as he smiled at Lily in a fauxly serene manner. “When Dumbledore saw a young boy, unloved by anyone, conceived under a love potion… he saw a victim. Someone who didn’t matter to the wizarding world, who he could use and nobody would believe him.”

“I don’t believe you,” Lily said.

“Doesn’t matter.  _ Sectumsempra,”  _ he said, and fired a curse at her. 

Lily dodged. Her face was burning - not just from rage, but now from the embarrassment of her father’s formative status as a  _ victim  _ being revealed to her by someone who had victimized  _ her  _ in the same way. “ _ Expelliarmus.”  _

Snape’s wand flew through the air towards Lily in an arc, and she grabbed it. It didn’t like her, she could tell as much, but she kept a tight grasp on it. He probably couldn’t hurt her too much without his wand.

“ _ Crucio,”  _ she cast again, gritting her teeth and focusing the spell with her anger. 

It landed successfully - clearly, she was a better duelist than the  _ Hogwarts professor,  _ or maybe Magic just liked her more. 

Snape writhed in pain at her curse, but it soon became clear that they were tiring at around the same rate. She released the curse, and he stared up at her in defiance. “What’s wrong? Can’t stand torturing me?” he asked.

“I’d rather use a variety of spells,” Lily answered, not wanting to reveal what was really going on.

With a flick of his hand, Snape’s wand was out of Lily’s hand, arching over to him. Damn it.  _ “Diffindo!” _ Lily called out, pointing her wand at his wrist. A straight cut appeared, and he winced.  _ “Accio Wand,”  _ Lily called out, taking advantage of Snape’s injured state. 

She saw him putting his hand over the cut and murmuring something - more nonverbal magic, damn it. Shaking, Lily realized this was a battle to the death, and if Snape won he would be seen as a hero of the Wizarding World for destroying Voldemort’s heiress. She searched in her mind for spells that would incapacitate a full grown wizard  _ properly  _ and for a  _ long time,  _ but not actually kill him - she knew that would be her father’s job, and she didn’t want to do anything else to incur his wrath. 

“ _ Stupefy vicesimus,”  _ she said, pointing her wand at him and using Eva’s curse. He opened his mouth in shock and half raised a hand to defend against her curse, but it wasn’t a proper defense. The spell landed, and he fell back, choking. 

Hoping the spell wouldn’t  _ actually  _ prove fatal, Lily walked towards the mirror of Erised, where the Sorcerer’s Stone clearly was. Through the smoke, she could tell that her reflection was different from how it had been the first time she had looked in the mirror. It was just  _ her,  _ and it put its hand inside its pocket and winked at her. Just then, Lily felt a heaviness in her pocket, and she reached in. It was the Stone, red and shining in all its glory. 

As she looked at the Stone, she heard running feet. With the full knowledge that it might be Dumbledore, she quickly stuck the Stone back in her pocket. 

It was - a group of Albus Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall, and Hagrid. McGonagall ran towards Lily and put her hands on her shoulder, checking for any injuries. 

“What happened, Miss Potter?” she asked.

Repressing her wince at being called that for the  _ second  _ time in the evening, Lily let herself show the stress that had been weighing on her, and tears started flowing down her face. “Professor Snape… he attacked me. He was trying to get the Stone. He… he was possessed by Voldemort. I did what I could to fend him off, and I don’t know, I think I might have killed him. Voldemort… um, spirit, or whatever it was, left just as I used the last curse. I guess he was able to Disapparate out of Hogwarts.”

Dumbledore nodded sadly. “There’s a little-known loophole in the castle’s wards that will let out or in a very overpowered non-corporeal entity. The ghosts usually manage to guard against that, and we didn’t really think it would be a problem, but obviously…”

“And the Stone?” McGonagall asked, looking harshly at Lily. 

Hoping McGonagall would see the abating flames and believe her, Lily said with as much desperation as she could muster, “I threw it in the flames when he was coming at me. If Voldemort managed to get through the magical defenses, it wasn’t really safe…”

Dumbledore nodded again, and Lily was relieved that nobody had been suspicious of her use of her father’s real name. “Or if three Hogwarts students could get through the magical defenses. What spells did you use on him, anyway?”

McGonagall held out a hand for her wand, and Lily handed it over, although everything in her screamed not to. She didn’t think  _ not  _ doing that would work. 

Lily winced as evidence of her own usage of Dark magic spewed out of the tip of her wand. 

“How did you learn these spells, Miss Potter?” Dumbledore asked, looking at her with narrowed eyes. “Moreover, how did you learn to  _ use  _ them?”

“Snape - well, I guess not Snape - he’s been teaching me this year. You can ask Hermione, or Percy. He said he needed to teach me dark spells so I could defend against them. I just… used what he’d told me,” Lily said, doing her best to look like she was shrinking against Dumbledore’s gaze. “And he… he…” 

“What did he do to yer?” Hagrid asked, putting a firm hand on Lily’s shoulder.

Letting more real tears fall from her eyes, Lily admitted, “He… raped me. I thought it was Professor Snape. During the last tutoring session I went to with him.”

McGonagall’s eyes widened, and she turned to Dumbledore. “Headmaster, she didn’t feel that she could tell us…”

“Victims of such a crime often do not feel that they can,” Dumbledore said, with a sad nod. It took all of Lily’s Occlumency knowledge to repress the anger she felt at those words. He then walked towards Lily. “Well, Miss Potter,” -  _ blech  _ \- “your eventful year is over now. You are safe. Hogwarts is your home, and if Voldemort or anyone else ever hurts you like that, you can come to myself or Minerva,”

McGonagall nodded. Lily looked at the genuine kindness in the professor’s eyes, and smiled. “Thank you.” She didn’t know if that kindness would apply if McGonagall knew who she truly was, though. 

“Of course,” McGonagall said. “Now let’s get you to the hospital wing so you can get cleaned up from this awful soot, and then go to bed.”

 


	41. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lily goes home.

When she stepped down from the Hogwarts Express onto Platform 9 ¾, Lily felt herself beaming. The Rosiers had “generously offered” Lily a place to spend the early part of the summer at, seeing the “close bond between Eva and Lily”, but they were really going to be taking her from King’s Cross Station to her father’s home.

She ran a hand over her hair - or rather, what was left of the left side of it, the side that was closely shaved to match the hairstyle of her father. She’d gotten it done shortly after it had become clear that both Eva was fine, and he had approved of her choice to sacrifice her, anyway. Now, she really  _ did  _ have her father’s hair, and people could stop comparing her appearance to that of a Light-sided idiot.

“Goodbye, Lily,” Hermione said, hugging her tightly. “Until next fall?”

“Yeah,” Lily said with a smile, and then, on impulse, leaned forward to capture Hermione’s lips in a very claiming kiss. Mrs. Rosier’s expression changed very slightly, but she knew not to make too much of a spectacle over the Dark Princess’s relationship, or whatever it was. “Until next fall.”

Someday, Lily swore,  _ her  _ Hermione would learn about her true allegiances and would become officially hers, and recognized as such by the entire Dark Side. But today was not that day.

After waving goodbye to Hermione and the other girls and boys who had walked over to her to say goodbye, Lily walked over to the Rosiers. It was only when she was alone with them that she allowed herself to put her hand in her pocket and feel the Sorcerer’s Stone.

She was going home, really home, for the first time ever. And she was carrying the secret of immortality with her.

 

******** END OF BOOK ONE. Look for Enemies of the Heir, the sequel, coming soon to AO3 and Fanfiction.net!********


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